Magic Jack - Not so magical if you leave your PC on 24/7

The makers of MagicJack claim that they can give you "unlimited" calling in the USA for just $39.99 for the first year and $19.99. Ok sounds good so far; and they continue to tell us that we can throw out our old phone! Amazing, but I thought about this for a few moments and said to myself "hey thats great if you want to turn your PC on and make a call and then shutdown the PC". But they give you a phone number so you can receive calls.. ok wait a second, that means your PC needs to be on to receive a call; and of course you need an internet connection; so that means you need to leave your PC and internet connection on 24x7x365

I'm going to compare a traditional land line, Magic Jack, and a Broadvoice VOIP Plan with 400 minutes of usage; and we'll factor in the internet costs to run it as follows: Average High Speed Internet at $40 a month; so lets dedicate $10 of that cost to the phone usage.

Monthly Service Fees:
Land Line: Approx $30 + Tax
Magic Jack: $3.33 ($39.99 / 12 months)
Broadvoice: $18.95 + Tax

Monthly Long Distance:
Land Line: Using ECG (http://www.ecglongdistance.net/) $0.025 / min = $10 (i've been using them for 2 years on my land line, never an issue)
Magic Jack: $0
Broadvoice: $0

Ok so far this is a no brainer, MJ is in the lead! But lets look at electricity usage and Internet usage.

Montly Electricity Cost:
Land Line: $0
Magic Jack: Desktop Computer uses 200 watts for 720 hours per month or about $23 a month
Magic Jack: Laptop Computer uses about 15 watts for 720 hours per month or about $1.50 a month
Broadvoice: Device uses 10 watts for 720 hours per month = 7.2 KWH or about $1.00 a month

Montly Internet Cost:
Land Line: $0
Magic Jack: $10
Broadvoice: $10

And the monthly totals for the first year:
Land Line: ~$45 USD
Magic Jack w/desktop computer: ~$46 USD
Magic Jack w/laptop computer: ~$15 USD
Broadvoice: ~$31 USD

Interesting results. Sure one could argue I shouldn't have included a portion of the internet costs and with that a MJ with a laptop would win out at a measly $5 a month. However the point of this article isn't to find the cheapest solution, its to prove that there is always more to the story than first presented. Personally, paying for a PC to be on 24x7x365, trusting that its operating system or programs won't crash, hoping my internet connection doesn't drop and wondering if the electricity will hold as a summer thunderstorm rolls by when i'm waiting for an important call doesn't sway me to change.

I'll take the comfort in knowing that my land line is there about 99.9999% of the time. And this past December when we lost power to our house for 7 days due to an ice storm, one service was there the entire time. Our land line...

Does the MJ work? Sure for people who want to make a call here and there, or travel on the road an bring a cheap phone alternative with them. But I think it's hardly a replacement for a house phone. So choose wisely; think about the big picture.. most people will throw their money at a MJ because they think they will save...but thats their problem, not mine...unless of course they read this blog...

Whatever...