I mentioned a couple months back how much I love Skype and now I'd love to sing the praises of Magic Jack and YouTube, the latter I appreciate much more now that I live abroad.
I'd seen a number of commercials on TV advertising Magic Jack and I it always sparked my interest, especially as I knew I was going to/wanted to live outside the US and this product seemed perfect for expats. So I was sure that I wanted to buy one once a friend of mine told me that her brother, who's in the Army, uses one while he's in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Uzbekistan. He later told me himself how great it was and how he had requested an area code to match that of his mother, making it easier for her to call him. I knew I was moving to Brazil so this sounded perfect to me. Not only is the Magic Jack good for me, but it makes it easy (and free) for my family and friends to call me.
We bought the Magic Jack about a month ago and started using it while we were still living in Florida. It turns out that a lot of Americans buy it and use it as a home phone, or for a second line. It's only $19.95/year (if I'm not mistaken). Very easy to use, even though you do have to plug it into the computer and leave the computer on if you're going to use it to make/receive calls. HOWEVER, if the Magic Jack is turned off, people can leave a voicemail which is recorded and sent to your e-mail. I can download the message in seconds and listen to it even if the Magic Jack is turned off. This is priceless. I can pick up the phone and call friends, family, Amazon, AT&T, and my bank back home in the US and the call sounds the same as if I were in Florida or down the street from my mom in New York. AND we requested the same area code as my mom and my older sister and a number of friends. They don't even need to dial that when they call me. It's WONDERFUL.
Thank you Magic Jack for creating such a simple product that has saved me money and let's me be in touch with my family and friends back home. I can also call any business I need to in the US to "handle business" and not bother my family to call on my behalf. I couldn't be any happier with the service. It's been nice to be able to give people in the States a "local" number.
Along with Skype and Magic Jack, I've found YouTube to be very convenient here as well. I don't know if you remember, but some time back I wrote a blog post about what I was watching on TV and I mentioned "Meet the Browns". Well, E and I love that show and yet we haven't been able to watch it on TBS.com here. I don't know if it's a location thing...? I tried at home and at school. No luck. We can watch the commercials (the previews), but not the show. But it's on YouTube; it may not be the same, but at least we can laugh out loud here in Brazil, too.
So thank you to these three companies for making my life easier and better.
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