My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?

Dick

Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?

Dick

magicjack is the only one of those that requires a computer to be
running with their proprietary adapter plugged into it to run their
software.

The others use better designed much more energy efficient standalone
adapters.

Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?

Dick

In addition to George's reply, a VOIP NG is at
alt.dcom.telecom.ip

Another PC-dependent approach is http://www.skype.com/

Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?


No. No computer is required.

Vonage provides a box (modem) that plugs into your router. Your telephone
plugs into the Vonage box. At that second plug, it is as if you have another
Telco trunk line.

In our case, instead of plugging in telephones, we have a patch cord to our
PBX system. Our PBX system treats this as another incoming trunk line.

From the user's perspective, VoIP acts exactly like a telephone line: it has
its own telephone number, you dial and receive calls exactly like a
land-line. You get all the bells and whistles (caller-id, voice-mail, call
forwarding, etc.) and all the long-distance you can eat for a single low
price. That low price is all-inclusive: no charges for touch-tone, the
Spanish-American War tax, Universal Access Fee, sales tax, fuel surcharge,
capital improvement recovery fee, just-because fee, or anything else.

Our company's long-distance charges went from over $200/month to nothing.
Zero!

Here's a trick: You can pick your area code!

If, for example, you're a computer nerd living in Little Rabbit, Wyoming but
you want your customers to think you're in the thick of things, request
"650" area code (Palo Alto, California). If you live in Left Elbow Oklahoma
and all your relatives live in Boston, request a 617 (Boston) area code so
that when your relatives call you each day to reassure themselves you've not
been scalped by drunken Indians, it's a local call for them.

HeyBub wrote:
Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?


No. No computer is required.

Not quite. "magicjack" is a lame proprietary system that actually
requires you to keep a computer running to make it work. It doesn't
really matter much because they don't have a business plan and there is
only so much you can make up on volume when you are selling below cost.


Vonage provides a box (modem) that plugs into your router. Your telephone
plugs into the Vonage box. At that second plug, it is as if you have another
Telco trunk line.

In our case, instead of plugging in telephones, we have a patch cord to our
PBX system. Our PBX system treats this as another incoming trunk line.

From the user's perspective, VoIP acts exactly like a telephone line: it has
its own telephone number, you dial and receive calls exactly like a
land-line. You get all the bells and whistles (caller-id, voice-mail, call
forwarding, etc.) and all the long-distance you can eat for a single low
price. That low price is all-inclusive: no charges for touch-tone, the
Spanish-American War tax, Universal Access Fee, sales tax, fuel surcharge,
capital improvement recovery fee, just-because fee, or anything else.

Our company's long-distance charges went from over $200/month to nothing.
Zero!

Here's a trick: You can pick your area code!

If, for example, you're a computer nerd living in Little Rabbit, Wyoming but
you want your customers to think you're in the thick of things, request
"650" area code (Palo Alto, California). If you live in Left Elbow Oklahoma
and all your relatives live in Boston, request a 617 (Boston) area code so
that when your relatives call you each day to reassure themselves you've not
been scalped by drunken Indians, it's a local call for them.

"George" wrote in message

HeyBub wrote:
Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?


No. No computer is required.

Not quite. "magicjack" is a lame proprietary system that
actually requires you to keep a computer running to make
it work. It doesn't really matter much because they don't
have a business plan and there is only so much you can
make up on volume when you are selling below cost.

How do you know they are selling below cost. The price was reduced from
$70. They don't seem to have any overhead and can afford TV adds. Their
interface shows adds that must be paying something. My bet is they will last
some time. I have my system running every minute I am home and awake anyway.
You get email notification when you get voice mail. There is no problem with
voice quality unlike when I first got Vonage and had problems several times
that required calls to someone I couldn't understand. I am wondering is why
Comcast is still offering VOIP at high prices and still has customers taking
the bate. Even at several times the cost MJ is a savings.

HeyBub wrote:
Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?


No. No computer is required.

Vonage provides a box (modem) that plugs into your router. Your telephone
plugs into the Vonage box. At that second plug, it is as if you have another
Telco trunk line.

In our case, instead of plugging in telephones, we have a patch cord to our
PBX system. Our PBX system treats this as another incoming trunk line.

From the user's perspective, VoIP acts exactly like a telephone line: it has
its own telephone number, you dial and receive calls exactly like a
land-line. You get all the bells and whistles (caller-id, voice-mail, call
forwarding, etc.) and all the long-distance you can eat for a single low
price. That low price is all-inclusive: no charges for touch-tone, the
Spanish-American War tax, Universal Access Fee, sales tax, fuel surcharge,
capital improvement recovery fee, just-because fee, or anything else.

Our company's long-distance charges went from over $200/month to nothing.
Zero!

Here's a trick: You can pick your area code!

If, for example, you're a computer nerd living in Little Rabbit, Wyoming but
you want your customers to think you're in the thick of things, request
"650" area code (Palo Alto, California). If you live in Left Elbow Oklahoma
and all your relatives live in Boston, request a 617 (Boston) area code so
that when your relatives call you each day to reassure themselves you've not
been scalped by drunken Indians, it's a local call for them.


Nice examples

John Jones wrote:
"George" wrote in message

HeyBub wrote:
Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?

No. No computer is required.
Not quite. "magicjack" is a lame proprietary system that
actually requires you to keep a computer running to make
it work. It doesn't really matter much because they don't
have a business plan and there is only so much you can
make up on volume when you are selling below cost.

How do you know they are selling below cost. The price was reduced from
$70. They don't seem to have any overhead and can afford TV adds. Their
interface shows adds that must be paying something. My bet is they will last
some time. I have my system running every minute I am home and awake anyway.
You get email notification when you get voice mail. There is no problem with
voice quality unlike when I first got Vonage and had problems several times
that required calls to someone I couldn't understand. I am wondering is why
Comcast is still offering VOIP at high prices and still has customers taking
the bate. Even at several times the cost MJ is a savings.


Actually they have the same overhead as any other SIP provider because
that is what they are only in a slightly proprietary form to prevent
users from using a normal SIP adapter which doesn't require a computer
to be on just to make or receive a phone call so they can try to force
you to watch their ads. Magicjack is nothing but a rehash of the low
cost/free "ad driven" things such as Internet connectivity that surfaced
during the dotcom bubble that don't work. Running TV ads etc doesn't
tell you anything about a companies health because they are burning
through investor money. My bet is that they will last as long as the
investors wallets stay opened.

"George" wrote in message

John Jones wrote:
"George" wrote in message

HeyBub wrote:
Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?

No. No computer is required.
Not quite. "magicjack" is a lame proprietary system that
actually requires you to keep a computer running to make
it work. It doesn't really matter much because they
don't have a business plan and there is only so much
you can make up on volume when you are selling below
cost.

How do you know they are selling below cost. The price
was reduced from $70. They don't seem to have any
overhead and can afford TV adds. Their interface shows
adds that must be paying something. My bet is they will
last some time. I have my system running every minute I
am home and awake anyway. You get email notification
when you get voice mail. There is no problem with voice
quality unlike when I first got Vonage and had problems
several times that required calls to someone I couldn't
understand. I am wondering is why Comcast is still
offering VOIP at high prices and still has customers
taking the bate. Even at several times the cost MJ is a
savings.

Actually they have the same overhead as any other SIP
provider because that is what they are only in a slightly
proprietary form to prevent users from using a normal SIP
adapter which doesn't require a computer to be on just to
make or receive a phone call so they can try to force you
to watch their ads. Magicjack is nothing but a rehash of
the low cost/free "ad driven" things such as Internet
connectivity that surfaced during the dotcom bubble that
don't work. Running TV ads etc doesn't tell you anything
about a companies health because they are burning through
investor money.

My bet is that they will last as long as
the investors wallets stay opened.

Possibly. I guess time will tell. I will be along for the free ride in the
mean time.

George wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
Dick Adams wrote:
My apologies that this is not a repair question.
But with the thread on Majic Jack, curious minds
want to know.

Do Vontage, Comcast, or Magic Jack load software
to your computer?


No. No computer is required.

Not quite. "magicjack" is a lame proprietary system that actually
requires you to keep a computer running to make it work. It doesn't
really matter much because they don't have a business plan and there
is only so much you can make up on volume when you are selling below
cost.

Ah, right. I was thinking only of Vonage and Comast.

Thanks for the correction.