Saving Money with a magicJack

In today's world, saving money for your business is almost as important as generating income. One way to help save on the phone bill is with a magicJack. You may have seen them advertised on TV, but with all the scams out there these days, it's hard to know what to believe. But in fact, the magicJack is a workable solution to ever-increasing phone bills.

You can visit the magicJack site to purchase a magicJack over the Internet as well as locally at such places as Walmart and Radio Shack for around $40. In my case I purchased online and the initial cost also included a year's service, which includes local and long distance calling. After the initial year, service costs around $20 a year.

Installation is fairly simple. The magicJack plugs into your computer's USB port via an included cable or directly, depending on where your computer is situated. Your regular telephone line on your regular phone plugs into the other end of the magicJack. The magicJack itself is only about 3" x 1.5" x .5" so it doesn't take up much space.

Next the magicJack must be configured to work on your computer. At this point, I did have some problems but after "chatting" online with magicJack's personnel, it was eventually figured out and has continued to work well ever since.

Personally, I'm happy with magicJack but there are a few points to consider and a couple of things to get used to:

Although their plan is to eventually be able to transfer an existing landline phone number, you cannot do that yet so a new number is necessary.

• You must remember to dial the area code (but not the "1") even when making local calls.
• Your computer must be on to receive calls. However, even with the computer off, you will continue to receive voice mails which is done via a message left on your computer. An email is sent to you that has a link to the voice mail so it's quite easy to listen to messages.
• MagicJack does have an address book where you can enter often-called numbers. Any number in the address book will show up on your computer screen when a call is received.
• In an office situation with multiple computers and phones, each one would need its own magicJack.
• Customer service, other than the online chat, seems to be pretty non-existent, so please consider this before you buy.

Whether or not you ultimately decide to buy a magicJack for your home or office, it is something to consider when trying to lower expenses - maybe for a second line. As we all know, things aren't getting any cheaper and if there's a way to lower a monthly expense, we all want to at least have some information to consider.

Want more new ideas to make your business run more efficiently? Take 30 minutes today to schedule a call with Steve Kantor to see how a part time virtual assist can transform your business. Interested in a part time career with us? Visit our website for more information.