Choosing a VOIP Provider: netTALK Vs MagicJack

If VoIP is going to be brought to regular users in their homes, we can't rely on the traditional phone companies to do it for us. They have a huge stake in maintaining the status quo and would generally like to keep people using the outdated PSTN system. The future is in the hands of innovative phone companies like MagicJack and netTALK which give people an easy way to set up and use VoIP in their own homes. In this article, we look at the major difference between these two providers and which one is recommended.

MagicJack
We've reviewed MagicJack before and found it to be an extremely usable VoIP phone system for a regular home user. The concept is simple. A small device (presumably the "magic" jack) plugs into the USB port on your computer. This device has another port which acts as a phone jack. So you simply plug in your phone - that's the extent of the hardware set up.

On the software side, you install a piece of software on your laptop which identifies and sets up all the required data for the system to work. After that, you can just use your phone to make calls to the US and Canada for free! The system works pretty well. The only downside is that you need your computer to be on all the time which is a major irritant for a lot of people and also consumes quite a bit of power.

netTALK
netTALK is a service similar to MagicJack with one big difference - you don't need a running computer. Like MagicJack, netTALK also supplies a nifty little device which your phone plugs into. However, it can get the Internet connection directly from your router (which many people also use to supply their home Wi-Fi.) This router is always on since it hardly uses any power and so it means that whether your computer is switched on or not, you can make and receive free calls to the US and Canada with even less hassle than MagicJack.

Of course, you can also use it with your computer just like you do with MagicJack. The upside is that you can carry the device with you and connect it to any computer or router in the world with an Internet connection and you're good to go.

On cursory examination, it looks like netTALK trumps MagicJack in this one huge area. And for me, that's a pretty big advantage!

Bhagwad is an expert consultant on creating an SIP Account. He also specializes in SIP VoIP Phone Reviews.