Top Ten Frustrating Reasons Why Your magicJack Plus Won’t Connect

Your magicJack… Sometimes it won’t ring. Sometimes you can’t call out. Since magicJack does not have 24-hour live chat support, you end up figuring it out for yourself. Check out the top 10 most frustrating reasons why your device isn’t connecting. Let’s get the most obvious ones out of the way first. Then we’ll head for the more obscure.

1. Your device registration has lapsed. If you didn’t set it to autorenew, you may or may not be able to renew manually. It can’t hurt to try. Go to my.magicJack.com. Log in and attempt to renew.
2. Your internet service is temporarily out. This one’s easy — Reboot your modem, router and phone, maybe even your computer.
3. Your phone may be incompatible with the magicJack. It may be a very old AT&T corded phone with real bells, jerry-rigged to work with RJ-11 jacks. Apparently some Uniden phones are also incompatible. Try Panasonic. In any case, try a different corded or cordless phone.
4. The TalkFree app by magicJack may be incompatible with your android phone. Yes, some android configurations are not as friendly with magicJack as others. Your only options are to get a new android device or remove the app from your phone.
5. Device is not set to send or receive calls properly. While logged into my.magicjack.com, pull down from “Call Features” to advanced. For the device in question, choose “I elect to accept outgoing and incoming service” from the “Select Service” area. Make sure “Use DHCP” is checked.
6. Bandwidth is too low. If you’re on a DSL line with 1.5Mbps down and 128Kbps up, your connection speed is just at the limit of what’s reasonable with magicJack, so long as nobody else on your network is attempting to stream video or upload anything. If you share your internet with other people in the same house, or you’re letting a neighbor leech your wifi, it’s possible that your calls will be not only choppy, but less likely to actually connect.
7. Multiple devices with the same number on the same network. For unknown reasons, if you have two or more magicJack devices or apps set to the same phone number on the same home or office network, it confuses both magicJacks. More often than not, magicJack will ring once, then go straight to voice mail. Use unique numbers for each device if you are using them all on the same network or turn off all but one device.
8. Voicemail delay is set too short. Go to my.magicjack.com. From the “Call Features” tab, pull down to “Voicemail On/Off/Delay”. Make sure the device in question is at least 45 seconds long. Try calling from another phone to see if the longer voicemail delay is enough. If not, make it a mintue or longer.
9. Your cordless or corded phone is set to the wrong ringer mode. Most phones are set default to ringer mode “B”. The ringer mode tells the phone how much power is available to ring the phone. Older phones used power from the phone line to ring. The magicJack doesn’t supply nearly the same amount of power land line phones used to. Newer phones use power from a battery or power cord to ring and generally take less power to ring. If your phone doesn’t have a ringer mode setting, it’s likely ringer-mode “A”. Modern phones will have a way to set the ringer mode somewhere in the bowels of its digital settings. If yours was set to “A” by mistake, it’s best to set it to “B”.
10. REN – Ringer Equivalence Number – Every US and Canadian phone has this number on the back. Add up the total REN for all phones connected to your magicJack plus. If it’s more than about 2 to 2.5, your phone won’t ring. It will probably go to voicemail instead if voicemail is set. The REN on the back of your phone will often end with “B”, as in “0.1B”, or “1.0B”. The “B” refers to the ringer mode from reason 9.

That’s a wrap on the 10 most frustrating reasons why your magicJack won’t connect.