MagicJack vs. Vonage vs. Skype PART.2

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Part 2


Part 1 is here..
MagicJack vs. Vonage vs. Skype



MagicJack vs. Vonage vs. Skype PART.2


Privacy & Customer Service


Here things get tricky when assessing MagicJack as a product. There are MagicJack customers who love the product (eg. check out this positive review of MagicJack). There are also a significant number who consider the company akin to a scam. The complains of the latter group fit into three basic categories:

1) Privacy issues. The MagicJack software displays ads on your computer (which is a major reason why their service is so cheap). And their Terms Of Service states: Our computers may analyze the phone numbers . . . you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads. We do not provide any personal information to our advertisers or third parties. Despite that promise not to share personal information some people feel that the number of telemarketing calls they receive goes up after signing up with MagicJack. Others (including yours truly) are simply uncomfortable with a company collecting data on personal phone calls. (Click here to read MagicJack’s CEO response to this criticism).

2) Over charging. There have been a lot of complaints about MagicJack debiting more than the agreed amount from consumers’ credit/debit cards and not honoring their 30-day money back guarantee. The complaints launched at least one investigation by a local news agency and lead MagicJack to have an F rating from the Better Business Bureau for many months, though these days their rating is back up to an A-.


3) Once you install the MagicJack software there’s no easy way to uninstall it, especially from Windows where a manual uninstall process involves editing your computer’s registry. It has been left to a group of enterprising individuals to create an unofficial (and very anti-MagicJack) online uninstall guide. Further, this software slows some computers even when MagicJack is not in use.

After spending many hours researching the validity of these complaints Spot Cool Stuff has ended up somewhere between the company’s ardent supporters and ardent detractors. We don’t think MagicJack is a scam. We also think there’s some merit to their critics’ arguments. The difficulty of uninstalling software that also collects data from your computer strikes us as a particularly bad combination. MagicJack removed their forum from their website and the unofficial MagicJack forum is rife with horror stories about the company. Most troubling of all, MagicJack has no customer support email address or phone number; their Terms Of Service states that any issues with the company must be settled by binding arbitration in a court in Palm Beach, Florida.

It should be noted that both Vonage and Skype have their detractors too and neither is a bastion of superlative customer service.

Vonage has the best costumer service of the three insofar as they have a toll free phone number through which you can speak to a real live person about your issues (if you wait on hold long enough). There is no software associated with using Vonage; it is purely a hardware service.

The Skype software is easy to uninstall, does not display ads and does not collect personal information about your phone calls. The company also has a very active forum on its site. Customer service is conducted by live chat and through support requests; it can sometimes take more than 24 hours to hear back from a request


AND THE BEST IN TERMS OF PRIVACY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS . . .
Not MagicJack


So Which Of These Three Is Best?

I would love to be able recommend the ultra inexpensive, easy-to-use MagicJack. But I can’t. For Spot Cool Stuff to recommend a product we need to have a certain trust level of the company providing it. Given all the privacy and customer service issues around MagicJack that level of trust is not there for me. And even if this trust were there I find it very problematic that MagicJack needs a computer turned on to work. (The need for a computer is especially vexing if you primarily use a laptop).


Skype is the best service if you are looking of a compliment to your cell phone. This is exactly how Spot Cool Stuff uses Skype: We use our cell phones for domestic calls and then Skype for international ones. In fact, with the fantastic Skype iPhone app you can use Skype on your cell phone (presuming you have an iPhone). Except for video chats we exclusively use Skype via an iPhone. (Speaking of video chats, it is very cool and surprisingly high quality on Skype).

Another great feature of Skype: it is also scalable. If you make, and receive, lots of international calls you can get a Skype phone and number. If you make a few international calls you can buy a headset along with a few pay-as-you-go credits. Before making an international trip we strongly suggest that people buy $10 in Skype credits if only to have in an emergency to make phone calls home


At the start of this article, though, I stated that f you were looking for the service that could best replace a telephone company land line. Without a doubt, the best service for that task is . . .

. . . Vonage.

If we were to stealthfully break into your house and replace your telephone company land line service with Vontage you might never notice a difference. You’d have the exact same phone number (not so with MagicJack or Skype) and the exact same phone (not so with Skype); you could use your phone without a computer (not so with MagicJack) and you’d be unlikely to notice much quality difference. Yes, Vonage is the most expensive of these three services. But this is one of those times when you get what you pay for.