VOIP Phones: NetTalk TK 6000 vs. MagicJack Review

For some years now MagicJack has grown as a widely popular VoIP phone used in United States and Canada. netTALK TK6000 has emerged as a magicJack competitor. It is being a low-cost telephony device that plugs into your high-speed connection cable and current landline into the TK600. The device enables user to make free unlimited local and long distance calls. With cool features and good customer support, netTALK TK6000 seems to be encroaching MagicJack’s market share. We draw a feature-by-feature comparitive review of the two VoIP phones to see which is the better one.

Ease-of-use

The biggest difference between the VoIP phones is that the MagicJack needs to be plugged into the computer and must be powered on to make calls. TK6000 is more comfortable to use. It needs to be plugged into your landline phone and your Internet connection into the device. Moreover, Magic Jack requires quality high-speed Internet connection to have quality calls.

Call Quality

According to the users report, call quality with the NetTalk USB device to be equal to or even better than Majic jack. The obvious advantage you have with NetTalk is the you are not at the mercy of the performance of your computer. Magic Jack’s quality of call might be disturbed with an underperforming computer.

Call conferencing

TK6000 offers three way calling/conferencing feature. MagicJack allows you to call 2 different numbers and conference them. In case someone you on TK6000 you can put the caller on hold, dial another number and conference with everyone. TK6000 also offers a caller ID on the phone set connected to TK6000. In case of Majicjack you need buy a unit to connect between MJ and your phone that will allow you see the caller ID.

Voice mail

In TK6000 allows free voice mail, but it  comes to you as an email file. However, you cannot listen to your voice mail over the phone. TK6000 doesn’t offer any softphone. On the contrary, MagicJack allows you to listen to the voice mail.

Price

There is a considerable difference between the prices of the two product. Majick jack costs $39.00 with a $20 a year charge for unlimited calls. Whereas NetTalk TK6000 costs $99 upfront, but they have the option of splitting the payments into four parts. Once you have paid the $100 you can make unlimited calls until the “life” of the device.

Clearly, for those on budget a $100 is not a comfortable price. To add up, the company is new and and there’s no guarantee how long they will be around.

Hardware support

TK6000 allows all sorts of hardware such as satellite providers, and fax machines. MagicJack has no such features.

Customer Service

NetTalk TK6000 has good reports about customer support. Their forum is also active and helpful where users can get suggestions about the company. Users are free to change their numbers and area code when ever they like.
There was no tech support number to call, the web chat was scripted and treated me like I had never used a PC before. The only way I was able to figure out what was the problem and how to fix it was to join the unsupported MagicJack Support forums,

MagicJack has received hundreds of customer service complaints according to the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida. The bureau MagicJack a “A-” rating.

Customer Safety

As MagicJack’s End User License Agreement reads

You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software will include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for the magicJack device to work … Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads.

Several users have complained about the advertisement displayed by the product, which allows YMAX to analyze numbers called by customers.

Here’s a snap of the key features in NetTalk TK 6000 vs MajicJack

Key features TK6000

• Doesn’t require a PC
• No yearly fee
• No time limit for calls
• 800 customer support
• Can be used for Faxing, dial-up VPN/ISPs, and satellite providers
• Clear calls
• Ability to plug more than one phone/device at the same time
• Free to change number/area code

Key features MagicJack

• Cheaper Upfront cost
• Doesn’t require changes in Modem or Router settings
• Softphone on PC allows users to make/receive calls using speaker and mic w/o a phone
• It has an easy-to-use login page that manages call forwarding or changing a number
• Can be used with slower Internet connection (Aircard/dialup connection )

Conclusion

netTALK with its array of features overwhelms MagicJack. Having said that, MagicJack cannot be written off completely. It works right out of the box and offers simplicity of use. Still it’s no surprise that MagicJack users are shifting sides to netTALK. Most of the customers find it difficult to manage MagicJack for its related issues. It needs you to have a PC on to use it, have admin rights on the PC to install the software or lack of Fax.