MagicJack - Unlimited Phone Service for $20/Yr

Perhaps you've seen the television commercial, promising a 30-day 100% free trial of MagicJack if you call within the next thirty minutes? (The same offer is available at their website.) Is it too good to be true?

First, what is MagicJack?

MagicJack is a gizmo that plugs into your computer's USB port. After you install the hardware, its software automatically loads onto your PC (Mac-friendly versions available, too). Then, you plug your landline phone jack into the gizmo, and voila! You can telephone nationally or internationally at the rate MagicJack charges, not your local phone service.

And the MagicJack rate is very low.

What's the cost?

First year, $39.95; after that, subscription is $19.95/year for caller id; voice mail; call waiting; conference calling; unlimited domestic and international use. These are ANNUAL fees, not monthly ones.

What are the biggest pros and cons? There's lots of negatives to MagicJack.

1. First of all, your computer has to be up and running to use MagicJack. Turn off your computer, and your MagicJack phone shuts off, too. (Compare this to Vonage, which connects into your modem, allowing you to have phone service as long as your internet service provider is active.)
2. Another negative for some is the MagicJack requirement to dial the area code for every call - although this is only true for some parts of the country.
3. A third problem with MagicJack is quality of transmission - in my surfing of the web, I found bloggers and pro reviewers reporting periodic fuzzy calls, low volume, and voice mail issues. Everyone weighed these against the cost of the service, and found the quality issues tolerable given the cost benefits MagicJack offers.
4. Finally, there's a privacy issue. Selling this service this cheap has many wondering how MagicJack can make a profit. Well, the company plans on getting revenue through advertising, and that's going to happen through ads that MagicJack will sell, and which will be displayed on your computer as part of the MagicJack operational software. The gimmick to draw advertisers? MagicJack reserves the right to monitor the numbers you dial so it can coordinate ads with advertisers. Yep -- they'll be monitoring your phone calls for commercial purposes and you're giving up some privacy in order to get cheap phone service.

What are the Pros?

1. It's easy to install.
2. It's cheap.
3. You can call domestic or international for the flat fee.
4. It seems to have the best use as a landline used for families whose main phone use is at work, or on cell phones. Lots of the complaints I read were from folk who were trying to use MagicJack for business, or for their sole phone line.

Who are its competitors?

MagicJack is one of several voice-over-internet-protocols (VoIP) services being marketed today for cheap phone service. Others include Vonage (which is the big dog in the pack here), Optimum Voice, At&T CallVantage, TimeWarnerCable, Comcast, Average, and Skype. All these services compete with MagicJack for VoIP customers.

Who's winning? In a recent PCMag survey, Optimum Voice came in first as the VoIP customer favorite, followed by Vonage.

Reviews:

US News & World Report (June 6, 2008)

Laptop Mag

VOIPReview.Org

BroadbandDSL.com

FierceVOIP.com

For more information:

Skype - Is It For U?

VoIP -What About Those $25 Vonage Ads?

Stevia Goes MainStream - No Cal, All Natural Sweetener: Is It the New Splenda?

Well, it's about time. For those of us who have been using Stevia for years, we've wondered if this day would ever come. Thanks to Cargill, it has.

Stevia will be hitting the commercial store shelves this month, marketed under the name brand of "truvia." (I believe they're only selling it in packets, but I could be wrong.) Look for it packaged as SweetLeaf.

Next year, expect to see lots of marketing, with Coca-Cola having the exclusive rights to use Truvia in its beverages since it shared the Truvia development expense with Cargill. Pepsi's already in the fight - it's announced its version of stevia, PureVia, and will begin selling SoBe Life drinks sweetened with PureVia in several South American countries this week.

What's Stevia?
Stevia is a natural sweetener that has been used for years and years, which has no calories to it. It is derived from the Stevia plant, you can grow it yourself if you want to do so, and its leaves are several times sweeter than sugar.

The Japanese as well as countries in South America and Europe have seen store products sweetened with Stevia for many years. In fact, Diet Coke sweetened with stevia has been available in Japan for awhile now (check out Mark McManus 's rant about why we can't get it here in the States).

It's been a long, political path for Stevia to gain FDA acceptance here in the US ... and yes, there have been fingers pointed at both the sugar industry as well as the companies responsible for artificial sweeteners like Equal and Splenda.

Health Benefits - It's Good for You
While more and more reports are revealing concerns with the use of artificial sweeteners (particularly aspartame right now), worldwide studies have shown stevia to be beneficial to physical and mental health. Stevia has been shown to help with high blood pressure, glucose levels for diabetes, and depression. Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Michael Murray are big fans.

Want a soft drink sweetened with stevia right now?
Try Zevia. They'll even send you a variety six pack for free, as long as you pay shipping and handling.

Want to Buy It Now? My Favorite Brand and My Favorite Uses: Tea and Limeade.
Personally, I love stevia. I buy the KAL brand, loose powder form (it comes with its own measuring spoon inside). You can find it at health food stores like Wild Oats and Whole Foods (if KAL's not sold out ... it's the most popular stevia product at my store).

My life is better with stevia in it. Ten shakes for a gallon of iced tea. And, there's just not a better limeade around than one lime, a "stevia spoon" of stevia, water, and lots of ice.

I recommend KAL's stevia product because I do not find it to have the licorice aftertaste other brands sometimes have; plus, I think KAL gives you more bang for your buck than other brands. My KAL bottle simply lasts longer than the competition, and I use stevia all the time.

Computer Crash -5: Freebies and Deals I Found

Circuit City has an online outlet store that offers some very nice deals shipped directly to your home. I bought a printer/scanner/copier combo with shipping and handling for under $50. I bought my new desktop as a package (tower, monitor, printer) for under $500 at the store itself (Vista is hard on hardware budgets - you will need new peripherals - this package saved me $200+). I couldn't beat this deal online or on foot, anywhere.

AVG is an award-winning antivirus software package that is free, and highly respected among computer techs.

MozyPro offers a free remote computer backup service - store up to 2GB. (I bought a monthly service which is inexpensive - $13.95 for 20 GB.)

Yahoo.com offers free email with unlimited storage and automatic anti-virus scanning (you don't have to download any software for the antivirus scan).

QuickBooks offers a free small business accounting software package that allows customized invoices, checks, etc., and the ability to send invoices by email, saving them as .pdf files.

OpenOffice offers a free software suite that is truly competitive with Microsoft Office. Fascinating project, worth investigating even if you're not in the market for the software.

Microsoft Office 2007 offers free 60-day trials of all its packages (Word, Excel, etc.)