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surfzombie
MagicJack User
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 43
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 Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: Can I just use an old pc for my whole house setup? |
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| Hi Everyone, I'm a noob here and this is my first post. I finally cut the umbilical cord with my old phone company. (frontier). I live in rural Utah and don't have many options for internet service. Either forces phone service to get DSL (1 meg max) and barely 128k up or Wireless internet with a dish like thing on my roof aimed at a tower. That's what I have now. I average up to 5 meg down and 1 meg up. I have been looking at the thin clients but have an old pc sitting around collection dust and want to use it rather than buy the thin client. Can anyone tell me how to set up the pc so that it will reboot and auto load MJ when the power goes off. I saw a video on you tube where a guy did that with a thin client. By the way I have had my MJ for well? I just paid my second renewal so going on third year and love it. |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: Magicjack support, tips, tricks, and hacks |
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TransferCutter
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me
Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 101
Location: TO, ON, CA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:22 pm Post subject: |
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I'm using an old computer myself. In Bios, there will be a setting to restart on power restore, or some wording like that. It just means when the power comes back on, the computer will restart.
The big plus of a thin client as I understand it, is the power savings. |
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surfzombie
MagicJack User
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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| TransferCutter wrote: | I'm using an old computer myself. In Bios, there will be a setting to restart on power restore, or some wording like that. It just means when the power comes back on, the computer will restart.
The big plus of a thin client as I understand it, is the power savings. |
Thanks that works great. Let me ask you. After you have it all setup and working do you keep a monitor, keyboard, mouse attached and running or can you take them off and run it that way? |
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crackerjack
Dan Should Pay Me
Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 726
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| surfzombie wrote: | | After you have it all setup and working do you keep a monitor, keyboard, mouse attached and running or can you take them off and run it that way? |
Assuming your machine doesn't revolt at the idea of running sans mouse/kybd/monitor, you should try something like teamviewer or logmein to remotely control it. If you do have problems running 'headless', check if there are compensating settings in your CMOS (bios) settings
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CrackerJack
MagicJack Customer #73
MagicJack user since May 2007
MagicJack abuser since June 2007
"I gots mo' numbers than a Lotto machine!!!" |
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surfzombie
MagicJack User
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for your help. I will just keep them all plugged in and turn the monitor off to save a little energy and only turn it on when I need to. Thanks again. |
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TransferCutter
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me
Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 101
Location: TO, ON, CA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I have mine on the floor behind my chair and ran a KVM switch with a long cord to my desktop. I also use Teamviewer, as mentioned, to access the computer from my laptop. I also use that computer for downloading my torrents as it's always on and can download overnight. |
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jimisbell
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me
Joined: 19 Mar 2009
Posts: 153
Location: Third Coast
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:21 am Post subject: |
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An old computer will work. But if you start having troubles with cuting out or stuttering, it may be too old. You need speed
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Jim Isbell
If you are not living on the edge then you are just taking up too much space. |
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surfzombie
MagicJack User
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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| jimisbell wrote: | | An old computer will work. But if you start having troubles with cuting out or stuttering, it may be too old. You need speed |
It's an old Compaq En PIII 1.0GHz with 512 meg ram. It should work fine. The specs are better than most thin clients I see running with MJ. |
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crackerjack
Dan Should Pay Me
Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 726
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| jimisbell wrote: | | An old computer will work. But if you start having troubles with cuting out or stuttering, it may be too old. You need speed |
I totally disagree. The single most critical part of the voice quality equation is the stability and consistency of your internet connection.
I ran my first MJ dongle on a PII 66Mhz machine with Win2K and 64MB ram without issue. Dan still owes me for that wager too!!!
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CrackerJack
MagicJack Customer #73
MagicJack user since May 2007
MagicJack abuser since June 2007
"I gots mo' numbers than a Lotto machine!!!" |
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surfzombie
MagicJack User
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| crackerjack wrote: | | jimisbell wrote: | | An old computer will work. But if you start having troubles with cuting out or stuttering, it may be too old. You need speed |
I totally disagree. The single most critical part of the voice quality equation is the stability and consistency of your internet connection. |
I totally agree with crackerjack. I think that the internet connection is the most important element in voip. I think that the reason many people have a bad experience with the MJ is because of there internet connection and NOT MJ other than customer service issues. |
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bitstopjoe
Future magicJack CEO
Joined: 13 Sep 2008
Posts: 2610
Location: North East Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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I agree 100%............
Joe Sica |
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jimisbell
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me
Joined: 19 Mar 2009
Posts: 153
Location: Third Coast
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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So its totally out of the control of the customer, the end user?
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Jim Isbell
If you are not living on the edge then you are just taking up too much space. |
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bitstopjoe
Future magicJack CEO
Joined: 13 Sep 2008
Posts: 2610
Location: North East Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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No of course not. If someone's PC is loaded with spyware always calling home that's a problem in SO many ways.. A bad app running close to 100% cpu not a good idea either. SO yes a GOOD Internet connection is important, very important. But having a flat tire with a car that can do 200mph doesnt work well either...........
Having a little PC knowledge is a good thing just as one needs to have some idea what to do after turning the key to their car and nothing happens ( other than calling AAA of course 
Joe Sica |
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jimisbell
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me
Joined: 19 Mar 2009
Posts: 153
Location: Third Coast
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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Well I have a little PC knowledge...44 years of it...but I dont understand what the MagicJack does. My problem is that some calls, like Corpus Christi to San Diego go perfectly. Some local calls go perfectly. But then, a few minutes ago I tried South Dakota and just couldnt make a go of it. And locally it is NOT uncommon for me to be able to hear the other party but them to get me all chopped up and unreadable. I am using TC dedicated to the phone and getting its Internet through a router that serves the LAN for the house. Usually, but not on the call to South Dakota. Repeated tries kept getting a bad connection. Then just as I was writing that sentence, the person in SD called and she is coming in FINE. And then there is the problem that its not DuPlex, its SimPlex and if one person talks the other is cut off.
My wife is pissed off so it wont be long till I will have to cut it loose unless I can find a solution.
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Jim Isbell
If you are not living on the edge then you are just taking up too much space. |
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surfzombie
MagicJack User
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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| jimisbell wrote: | Well I have a little PC knowledge...44 years of it...but I dont understand what the MagicJack does. My problem is that some calls, like Corpus Christi to San Diego go perfectly. Some local calls go perfectly. But then, a few minutes ago I tried South Dakota and just couldnt make a go of it. And locally it is NOT uncommon for me to be able to hear the other party but them to get me all chopped up and unreadable. I am using TC dedicated to the phone and getting its Internet through a router that serves the LAN for the house. Usually, but not on the call to South Dakota. Repeated tries kept getting a bad connection. Then just as I was writing that sentence, the person in SD called and she is coming in FINE. And then there is the problem that its not DuPlex, its SimPlex and if one person talks the other is cut off.
My wife is pissed off so it wont be long till I will have to cut it loose unless I can find a solution. |
First off pc's haven't been around for 44 years. Maybe you have but pc's haven't. I sound like you have a good setup but lets go to the root. What kind of internet connection do you have? How often to you check you through put? (bandwidth). call quality can vary depending on the time of day and how much web traffic there is at the time of the call. Are you downloading or streaming a movie at the same time your on the phone? I have had my MJ for almost three years now and I can tell you from my own usage that. the better my internet connection. the better the call quality. I just dumped my landline which I had dsl with a whopping 1 meg down and barely 128k up. My Mj service was mediocre to half decent at it's best. I now have wireless internet service with up to 7meg down and 2 meg up and my sound quality is like night and day difference. I tend to think that the upload speed is more critical than the down but they both need to be good. Most of the thin clients I see out there have less than 1.0 GHz cup and 256-512 meg or ram and seen to run very well if connected to a good reliable internet service. |
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