My son spent the last six months on a world trip which took him to the Philippines, Guam, Thailand, Singapore, India, Turkey, Greece, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Monaco. I gave him a "Magic Jack" and a headset for his laptop so that he could stay in touch.
It performed as advertised. (Of course, getting the kid to call home was a much greater hurdle than the VoIP technology.)
The "Magic Jack" provided him with an area code 303 number in Colorado, where he normally lives, and functioned well whenever he had access to a broadband connection -- which was most of the time at cafes, hotels, etc.
His favorite feature was the voice mail which not only allowed me (and his friends) to leave him a message, but would send him an email saying that he had a message and attaching the voice mail message as an mp3 file. This was good because he was likely to glance at email almost every day, but plug in the "Magic Jack" only when he wanted to originate a call.
Generally, the quality of the call was a function of the quality of his broadband connection. In all cases, it was well within what one might expect for conventional international calling from odd locations.
Now that he is back in the US, he prefers to use his cellphone which provides flat rate nationwide calling and is more convenient than being tethered to his laptop computer. But the cost of using a cellphone while roaming internationally made the "Magic Jack" a superb way for him to keep in touch.
Regards, Will
***** Moderator's Note *****Is "Magic Jack" any different than another VoIP service, such as Vonage? Would your son have been able to accomplish the same goals with a Vonage router in his luggage?
Bill Horne Temporary Moderator
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