Any info on long distance service for land lines?

[disneysteve]

I’m not sure if 3 devices would be needed. But I think only 1 device is needed, you would just need a 1 to 3-way splitter connector

That only helps if the phones are in the same place. If they are in different rooms or on different floors, not an option.

In my mom's case, she has 4 phones. Two are in a 2-to-1 adapter like that. The other 2 are plugged in separately, so 3 jacks in use all together. I might be able to get those other 2 combined so that only 2 jacks are in use. I have to double check how those phones are situated.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I’m using a 2-way splitter, one to my phone, the other to my fax machine. Yes magicJack can fax as well (no extra charge). These days faxes are almost obsolete but I’m still clinging on to it. I haven’t faxed it years but you never know.

[disneysteve]

These days faxes are almost obsolete

Being a doctor, I always laugh when people say this. Faxes aren't obsolete at all in the medical or legal fields. We send and receive faxes every single day. They are considered a secure form of communication and are HIPAA compliant. Email and texting are not.

[QuarterMillionMan]

This video (3 min) explains how to connect multiple phones to 1 magicJack. He says that the easiest way though is to get a phone base with multiple handsets. If you are more adventurous you could try his method in the video which sounds simple enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtGLcpnlgo0

[QuarterMillionMan]

The one thing I don't like about magicJack is their automated customer service which is conducted via chat online. They do have a concierge $14 service to have access to a live agent which might be what another poster referred to about nickel and diming. The service might be good when you first sign up to help trouble shoot if you have problems at first but could be discontinued once you are running smoothly.

[JBinKC]

I had a regular magicjack for 7 years from 2008-2015 what I didn't like about it was the product was plugged into the USB port of your computer and the product was bulky flimsily manufactured and easily broke off your USB port when you hit it by accident with not that much force. At the time it had no caller id and messages were archived into your email account. Which I didn't like because I get so many daily pesky emails to rummage through. I never had the magic jack plus which they tried to upsell me but they would void the time remaining on your regular magic jack contract. I bought a 5 year contract for $99 at the time and had to replace the regular magic jack once. Magic jack is cheaper but I think the hardware was junky and poorly manufactured. I haven't kept up with the product since then and as I had said before it needed a.15 MBps or greater upload speed to function. More of a challenge to get those speeds consistently in my rural area back then but easily achieved today.

From 2015-2018 my phone company would bundle DSL with free local phone service and 30 minutes of long distance at no extra cost but that contract expired at a much higher price.

I first tried Google phone given it is free but I had difficulty making the approved hardware work on my laptop was impossible for me but I still think it is worth a shot as Amazon will easily accept returns.

So I opted for an Ooma box which does show caller ID on my handset and leaves messages on my answering machine but it does cost more (about $62 a year) and the hardware is more expensive.

[QuarterMillionMan]

MagicJack is now WiFi. My device is pre-WiFi. But I no longer use this device, I use the app on my cell phone (unless I need to fax).

[QuarterMillionMan]