Magic Jack: Takes 15 minutes and may save you $300

I am always looking for small ways to save money with stuff around the house.  It always kills me that people will get up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday to save $75 on a television but they won’t do the little things that save real money.  It is in that spirit that I went hunting for a new phone deal for the house.

I had my home phone through Time Warner.  Yeah, yeah, I know what you are saying… why even have a home phone?  I hear ya’.  But, the woman always makes the argument that the kids need to be able to dial 9-1-1 if someone is “man down”.  Okay, okay… fine.  We will make it happen.

I realized that Time Warner had just started gauging me more after a promotional plan had expired.  So, I was paying $15 for a phone and $4.00 for voicemail each month.  On top of that, I was shelling a few bucks for random fees I could not explain.  In the end, I was paying $25 each month for a phone that I hoped nobody ever used!  Madness!

So, I turned to Magic Jack.  Great little service.  If you go through Amazon, it only costs $52 for year one and $35/year after that.  When you go through the setup process, you can even opt to pay up from for the next 5 years ($99) and get 5 years worth of home phone for $20/year.

Super simple to install.  This is all there is to the installation:

• Plug in the Magic Jack adapter to any outlet.
• Then, hook in a phone to the adapter.
• You will also hook in an ethernet cord from your router or your cable modem to the Magic Jack adapter.

Super simple.  And, the calls are very clear.  Just as clear as my old Time Warner phone.

From there, there is an online process for signing up.  It takes just a few minutes.

So, I went from paying @ $300/year for a home phone to $35/year after year 1.  So, I am paying 10% of what I was paying before.  I saved $270 for a few minutes of work.  Sounds a lot better than getting up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday (which I never have and would never do)!

Also, this tip might help you.  If you are like me, your cable modem is not in the ideal location for where you want a telephone.  But, there is a workaround.  I picked up this new phone.  Keep in mind that Magic Jack only works on the phone attached to Magic Jack.  But, you can pick up a phone like this that just has wireless handsets (don’t have to plug it in to a phone jack).  And, it works like a charm.

Hope this helps.