Today we’re looking at indicator lights, power and some standards for the magicJack plus. We’ll be comparing the magicJack plus 2014 to its predecessor, the magicJack plus 2012.

Here’s the video:

For starters, when I plug the 2014 into the killawatt ez, it shows me that the device draws about one tenth of an amp continuous. When I plug the 2012 into the killawatt ez, the older device draws about the same number of amps.

I looked at voltage. When I measure directly from the 2014 power supply, I get a measurement of about 5.23 dv volts availble to the magicJack. When I measure the two USB ports on the magicJack itself, the voltage is just at about 5 volts. For the 2012, the volts measure just over five volts at 5.04.

I then used my Gardner Bender line tester to check the polarity of the phone jack. Ideally, the polarity tester should give a green light. The magicJack 2014 does not pass the polarity test and instead gives a red light. The magicJack 2012 does pass, as seen with this green light.

Next, lets look at the indicator lights. When we first plug in the 2014, we get a continuous blue light, followed by a continuous green light for about ten seconds. Then the green light blinks on and off in a two second cycle. About five seconds after you plug in the ethernet cable the red light will glow for a few seconds and then blink in a similar two-second cycle. When you plug in the phone jack, indicator lights don’t change in any noticeable way. When your device is working correctly, you should see a continuous blue light with the red and green lights chasing on and off as shown here. The blinking green light suggests the device has passed internal diagostics and is ready for use. The blinking red light suggests your device is properly connected to magicJack’s proprietary SIP servers.

The 2012 has a single plus-shaped light port. When first powered up, the blue light remains continuous. In about five seconds a white light slightly below the blue light will begin blinking in a two second cycle. Nothing changes on the 2012 when you connect to the ethernet cable, and the same is true with the phone cable. When you see a continuous blue light with a white light blinking from within the same light port, the magicJack 2012 is functioning correctly.

While most modern phones have built-in diode bridges to prevent problems with line polarity, the magicJack 2014 does not pass the accepted polarity standard that has been part of phone services for almost as long as phones have been in business. I doubt this was intentional because anyone who might use the device for non-magicJack purposes on a system that needs the accepted polarity standards would merely need create a cheap polarity reversal cable between the phone and the device, circumventing the design flaw. I can only assume the flaw is unintentional. Please post your thoughts in the comments. Was it intentional or is there some proprietary reason why them might have flouted one hundred thirty-some-odd years of polarity standard?

We still have yet to see how the USB ports and the SDIO port will be used. Previous chats with magicJack chat support suggest a future firmware update will give the device access to these ports. With regards to WiFi, it’s possible the device could use an off-the-shelf SDIO card like one from SpecTec. Unfortunately they currently offer only a mini SDIO card. There are no micro SDIO cards available in the marketplace as of this posting, but who knows, a device that fits may be just around the corner.

The USB ports may be for use with USB phones. I’ve tried two old USB phones that work with skype, msn and yahoo messenger and many SIP soft phone apps, but the magicJack plus 2014 currently does not recognize any of these. Let me know if you find one that works with yours.

In a previous post on the mjcheck website, I showed how the magicJack plus 2014 costs about 61 cents more per year to run than the magicJack 2014. Perhaps this is because more power may be needed to run peripherals from the magicJack.

That’s all that can be said of the magicJack 2014 in comparison to the 2012 with regards to power, standards and indicator lights.

I hope this has been useful and educational. If so, please subscribe to my Youtube channel. If you haven’t already, please watch some of my other videos and visit my websites.

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71 Comments

  1. Yes, this was very useful. I’m not an electrical engineer by any stretch, but I’m just glad to find that someone out there is testing this device. I hope others will respond to your testing and provide more information.

    1. I’m glad it helped you! I hope we get more responses from POTS professionals who are willing to talk about it.

      1. I’ll ask my brother-in-law, who is a current engineer with AT&T, if he is using the 2014 mj+ yet. He may want to chime in or, at least, I could relay his findings. Thanks again.

          1. If the MJ2014 is working as designed, it should show chasing lights blue, red, green, blinking continually. If the device is otherwise working properly, I’m unsure why this this be. If the device is not working properly, the omission of the red blinking light suggests the problem is with your ethernet connection, either the cable or your router. If the lights directly at the ethernet port on the MJ2014 are dark, clearly the problem is either the jack on the 2014, the cable or the jack at the router. Best of luck!

  2. Chris,

    My MJ 2014 occasionally drops the phone line and I have to uplug and replug to get the dailtone back. People are frequently complaining about the line is breaking up. I am not doing any internet downloads at this time. I a a fast internet line (16+). Is the polarity issue part of the occasional quality problem??

    1. Harry,
      Polarity is unlikely the issue. If you’re using suddenlink2go, it’s possible the wireless interface is causing latency issues. If not, then you may be using the wrong SIP server, in which case, you’ll need to contact chat support with the folks at magicJack and tell them you’re getting dropped and erratic calls. Good luck!

    2. exact same thing that happens to me , i am not sure if its the device or my internet connection , but my internet connection is always fine so that shouldnt be my problem , also i just dont find the way to send free text messages ?

      1. Dave, SMS text messaging is still “vaporware” that magicJack has not yet included in the firmware. Go figure, eh?

  3. thanks,can anybody tell me why this devise(magic jack plus) functions for an hour and stops working again it has to be re-started.Is this done by magic jack people or anything else like power supply?
    It is like this for about 5 months and happening in India

    1. It’s possible that there may be a problem with your ISP. Also, depending on your connection speed, there may be problems there. You’re unlikely to get help from magicJack since you’re living in India, but you could try chat support. They may be able to switch you to a different sip server behind the scenes.

  4. This device doesn’t work when plugged into the router. You only hear the dial tone for one second and then it suddenly goes dead. I’m not the only one making this claim. Every one who bought the same magicjack plus 2014 device makes the same claim. Google it and you’ll see. This appears to be a big deception and maybe just a selling tool but nevertheless, it’s a big lie.
    Or has any one out there got it to work successfully? I dare you to say yes because evryone on the Internet who has bought one of these, complains about it not working without the computer.
    BIIIGG disappointment!!!!

    1. I have both a magicJack 2014 and the magicJack 2012. While I currently prefer the 2012, the 2014 is perfectly serviceable. In my experience, the 2014 seems to drop calls more often than the 2012, about once a week rather than once a month — usually mid call with no warning.

    2. Hi mine is working fine right now. What I did is plug into the router with the black wire and then plug the magicjack into the usb port on the surge protector.

      Works for me.

      Frank

      1. Frank,
        That’s awesome. Surge protectors are just now beginning to offer USB, as are UPS devices. You could probably also plug it into a powered USB strip, as long as the strip has enough amperage for the magicJack and any other devices connected. Great feedback!

      2. True that. While I was doing he setup noticed that I wouldn’t get a dial tone if I were to plug in the power first and then the router to it. As soon as I did it backwards (router first and then power) it would work fine.

        1. What you refer to as the “backwards” connection sequence is actually the *correct* sequence. The same held true for the original MJ+ model.

    3. @Francisco… Not “everyone on the internet” has this issue. Mine is plugged into a router and is working perfectly. Honestly. My router is an ASUS GX -01051 and has the VIP port. The purpose of this VIP port is to give the device on this port priority over the rest. I use this port exclusively for my MagicJack 2014 and have had zero problems. Hope this helps…

      1. What a smart way to manage Quality of Service (QoS)! Prioritize a physical ethernet port so that it’s services are preferred.

  5. I have a MJ+ and intermittently I get the message to the effect that “too far from base. Move closer to base and try again.” I have NOT moved my phone from where it’s been working! I have been on the mj tech support with maybe 5 different techs now, all running me through the same rigamarole to no avail. It just seems to work when it decides to and then all of a sudden, it’s not working again. Anyone have this problem and found a fix?

    1. Galen,
      The magicJack does not have a “base device”. I can only assume your magicJack is connected to a cordless phone. This message is coming from your cordless phone, not the magicJack. There is nothing magicJack can do because they don’t support phones. They only support the magicJack device. It sounds like your battery is going bad on the phone. Have you considered replacing the phone’s battery? Also, if your phone is a Uniden phone, the problem may be the phone itself. Uniden cordless phones apparently are not fully compatible with magicJack. In this case, consider buying a new cordless Panasonic 1.9GHz phone with AA rechargeable batteries for easy future battery replacement and reasonable distance from the phone base for satellite handsets.

      Good luck!

  6. Chris, as you alluded to in the beginning, the Tip/Ring polarity is pretty much a moot point these days because all new phones use the bridge rectifier. I was a Western Electric engineer back in the day – working on modems. The polarity thing served to disable the touchtone dialpad – the basic phone worked fine regardless of polarity, but if T/R polarity was reversed, the TT dialpad did not generate any tones. It was a cheap way to make an “incoming-only” station. We used it with auto-answer modems at the time.

    1. Randy,
      Thanks for this excellent history lesson on auto-answer modems. I still have to wonder why they would go against convention. Cheers!

  7. i have some problem when i use magicjack plus 2014 without computer there are showing middle light is red showing pls help me

    1. Jatinder,
      Because you are in Chandigarh, India, there may be extenuating circumstances. It sounds like the device behaves as expected when connected via USB when you dial out or receive calls. For connecting directly via ethernet, you may want to try a different cable. If your device is on an older router, you may want to upgrade your router or try a different port on the same router. The lights on your magicJack should show blue continuous with red and green lights chasing on and off, regardless of whether you have attached a phone to the device. If you are seeing a red continuous light, it may mean that your device is having trouble connecting to one of the proprietary magicJack SIP servers. You’ll have to talk with chat support about that. It may also mean you have an older phone model with a high REN. Please consider trying newer different phone. I’m not sure if any of this will help. Best of luck.

  8. I have a MagicJack plus 2014, and only 2 problems so far. one was that it would not generate recognizable touch tones when I was on the phone with various businesses. I could not respond to “Press 1 for billing”, type menus. I called tech support, and they had the problem fixed in just a few minutes. The other problem is that I cannot call certain remote areas in the country that have local telephone networks. For example I cannot place a call to anyone in Tennessee who has service through the Highland Telephone Cooperative. Guess living so far from civilization has its disadvantages.
    Other than than the few times that my AT&T gateway goes out, my MagicJack works flawlessly.

    1. Hi Kevin,
      Glad to hear your magicJack is working well for you. The reason why your calls don’t go through to Highland Telephone Cooperative is explained here. There is not much we can do about it. Somehow I expect to see more of this. As to the dialing business auto-directories, the only way to fix this is to tell chat support that you’re having trouble with it. There is apparently a back-end fix for this that we don’t have access to as users. Tell them you’re having trouble with DTMF on phone directory navigation. (Dial Tone Multi-Freequency)
      Good luck!

  9. Although mine has lost connection twice, it’s been working near flawless -> I have 19 devices connected in my house and standard broadband through TWC). After the second lost connection I gave it a static IP (just on my router) and eliminated the lease time restriction. Not sure if that had anything to do with it, but it’s been a week now and it hasn’t stopped since.

    If you are hearing voices drop out, you may want to run a packet loss test (could be a quality issue w/your cable either coming into the house, or in the house. I did this prior to buying mine and made sure there was no issue first. If you test it and see that you have a poor quality connection, it can be identified and corrected by your provider (at least I would think).

    MJ+2014 [plugged directly into port on router] / Router is an Asus RT-AC68R / Broadband Modem is a SB6141.

    One negative: When I call on other people it does show a name, and its not mine. And I’m not too crazy about dialing the area code prior to each number, but I’m getting used to it.

    1. Frank, I was trying to imagine why someone might have nineteen phones in their home! But I suspect that by “19 devices” you mean you don’t have 19 magicJacks but rather laptops, nooks, phones, smart appliances, etc. Thanks for the useful tips! (For others, this is not the same Frank who also offered a useful tip earlier.) Cheers!

  10. Thanks much for explaining the LED colors and what they mean. After using my MJ Plus2014 for 3 months with no problems I just had one. I had no dial tone & got the error 3002 (something about check your internet connection). I first made sure all the connections were tight and then unplugged the MJ from the power. When it came on I had the flashing red light & thought that something was wrong but I was actually able to use MJ. A quick Google search led me to your site and I now know it’s supposed to flash red. Again really appreciate that you posted this info to help others.

  11. My phone is not ringing. It rang with the old (CPU only) device. I am wondering if the reversed polarity is causing the phone not to ring. The answering machine picks up normally.

    1. StrykerCC,
      Check the Ringer Equivalency Number (REN) on the back of your phone. If it ends with “B”, there is almost no chance that reverse polarity is the problem. These more modern phones have polarity-correction. If it’s an antique phone (well over 30 years old) or there is no REN, the polarity problem is possible. It’s also possible that the REN on an older phone is too high for the magicJack. If you have multiple old phones connected to the magicJack that will also make the total REN burden on the magicJack too high. I understand that some models of modern Uniden brand phones do not ring properly with magicJack.
      Good luck!

  12. I am currently away from my home base in Canada and I am using my 2014 MJ plus connected to a DSL router down here in Mexico. I have had no problems with the MJ in Canada but now get the 3002 error message after several hours of operation. I notice that the green light is no longer flashing only the blue and red are lit. It is currently working but I am sure will drop the connection again. Does the loss of the green light indicate a flaw in the MJ?i

    1. Graham,
      You should see a steady Blue light and a blinking red and green chasing lights. The blue light indicates power is nominal. The green blinking light indicates the device has done all diagnostics and is ready to function. The red blinking light indicates that the device is properly connected to magicJack’s proprietary VOIP servers.

      When you’re plugged into power using the AC adapter and not connected to the ethernet jack, you should see the blue continuous light and a blinking green light. The red light only comes on once you connect the ethernet jack. If you’re using the USB port on a laptop in a hotel room, your device will only blink red once you’ve logged in via a browser and accepted the hotel’s internet usage policies. I know of no circumstance where the green light does not blink when the unit is powered up.

      Is it possible you or the airline dropped the device during your flight? Did it get stowed with your checked luggage or did you keep it with carry-on?

      I know that others have suggested that magicJack cuts off calls lasting longer than a couple hours. Also, if you stayed in a hotel, it’s possible the router may have decided there was too much traffic on non-http ports and saw it as a security threat. It seems unlikely though.

  13. Chris,

    My MJ+ 2014 is connected to one of my Netgear DGND4000 modem router’s ethernet port.

    I have two “situations:”

    Normally, as you note for the MJ+ 2014, the green light flashes followed by the red light – I get usually get this. However, a short while ago, both the green and red lights started flashing together. I chatted MJ “Tech Support” and they did not have a clue.

    The other and more persistent issue is that my MJ+ 2014 disconnects at the very same time of day, every day. The green and red lights are slowly flashing in series and everything is working OK. Then, the red light goes out for a few seconds and returns flashing rapidly. If a telephone conversation is in progress, it gets dropped with a short burst of static. Trying to use the instrument, the “Error 3-0-0-2” message comes on. The router status shows the MJ+ 2014 disconnected. The router log shows nothing unusual. I have tried to rap the traffic using Wireshark and I find noth unusual, either. The funny thing a few weeks ago when Daylight Savings Time took place, the disruption time stayed constant in UTC, but shifted an hour in local (Pacific) time. I have been elevated 3 levels in MJ Tech Support and they do not have a clue.

    Any ideas? OH, BTW, this did not happen before I renewed my MJ subscription in January and it did not happen in another location where I use a different (older) Netgear router. Also, the disconnect dopes not happen when the MJ+ 2014 is connected to the USB port on my laptop – of course, that is not an ethernet connection.

    Any thoughts you may have on this would be much appreciated.

    1. CamanoCarl,
      Like you, my first thought would have been the router.
      A couple other possibilities:
      If you are using a very fancy UPS, try connecting the AC adapter of the device directly to a wall outlet sans UPS. If this cures the problem, it could be something with your UPS. I’ve posted in comments before about how I’ve had to go through several UPS configurations before I found one that would even work with magicJack plus. It begs the question of whether other devices you have connected close by or on the same UPS or surge protector might be affecting the capabilities of your magicJack. (Hence my suggestion of connecting directly to your wall outlet, at least temporarily.)

  14. Chris,

    BTW, the dropout/disconnect occurs at about 18:21 PDT – – previously, it was occurring at 12:10 PDT

    1. What other devices in your home or connected to your router might be doing some automated task at that time?

  15. Chris,

    Thanks for the responses. My power source is a very simple power bar with some surge protection filtering. In general, the router and the MJ+ 2014 are the only devices on that power bar. The input power cable is AWG #12 and it is connected to a dedicated circuit to the panel via AWG #12 in-house wiring.

    The curious thing is that the MJ+ 2014 disconnects at the same time every day. If I reload the firmware to the MJ+ 2014 using my laptop and plug it back into the router, the time of day changes, but the repeat is still every 24 hours.

    I have tried disconnecting all devices except for the MJ+ 2014 and the router, i.e., no computers or printers (there is a CLP-6250FX connected by ethernet to the router) and it still happens. Both the MJ+ 2014 and the CLP-6250FX are assigned dedicated IP addresses inn the router table outside the DHCP range: the router is 192.168.0.1, the CLP-6250FX is 192.168.0.2 and the MJ+ 2014 is 192.168.0.3. The DHCP is set to 192.168.0.11 to 192.168.0.254.

    When I use the MJ+ 2014 in another location (our summer home) with a different router and ISP, it does not have the disconnect.

    Also, my router log is showing a lot of access to UDP port 5060 on my ISP address from IPs all over the world (Europe, China, India, etc.) originating at some other port. For example:

    from 12.68.145.242:5061 to 50.125.43.89:5060 Thursday, April 10,2014 09:08:25
    from 95.211.89.228:5219 to 50.125.43.89:5060 Thursday, April 10,2014 06:48:35
    from 186.73.169.115:5071 to 50.125.43.89:5060 Thursday, April 10,2014 04:37:47
    from 185.8.107.88:5114 to 50.125.43.89:5060 Thursday, April 10,2014 04:25:02
    from 199.19.109.76:5081 to 50.125.43.89:5060 Thursday, April 10,2014 03:51:36

    I do not know how these “pass throughs” are happening with the router. Some of the source ports are gameing ports, but the destination port is the Frontier ISP’s SIP port. Now my router acts as a “pass through” is a mystery. BTW, all these events happened while my computers were turned off, but the router was running to support the MJ+ 2014.

    Wireshark does not seem to be able to capture anything significant that I can tell.

    That’s it.

    1. CamanoCarl,
      First, I hate router/modem combos. If I’m not mistaken, your ISP can see every device you have attached to your system. While there must be an inherent measure of trust between you and your ISP, making it easy for any company to see what my device preferences are just makes it that much easier for someone less-than-honorable to abuse the privilege. Suddenly the fact that I use this printer or that roku becomes a commodity worth selling to some spammer? No thank you. I could be wrong, but it seems like you’re proving with Wireshark that you’ve got a serious flaw in the firmware of your DGND4000. You could try reinstalling the firmware, but personally, I’d ditch that thing! Get a well-rated stand-alone DSL modem compatible with but not directly from Frontier. Make sure you have the latest firmware. Similarly, find a decent separate router. Make sure everything’s hardened against the heartbleed flaw if your new router uses OpenSSL.

      1. Chriss,

        At this point and after dozens of email Tech Supports with Netgear, I am more than convinced that the DGND4000 firmware has many, many flaws. It is news to me that the ISP can see into my network, but portends a major concern for security. I am not very good at Wireshark, but, so far, it seems that I cannot trap whatever it is that comes in and knocks the MJ+ 2014 connection out. The slowly flashing red light becomes momentarly dark and ghen starts flashing rapidly and not in synchrony with the green light as it does when operating properly.

        The disconnect occurs at the same time GMT/UTC every day, but shifts in time if I do a reload of the firmware. All that leads me to believe that the connected MJ server (usually something.talk4free.com) sends some sort of daily inventory signal to the specific MJ+ 2014 MAC that knocks it off the air before it can reply. That would imply a MJ+ 2014 firmware problem with the Ethernet interface.

        I’m not giving up (except on the MJ Tech Suooort who are really clueless)

        1. CamanoCarl,
          Since you know the problem is with your modem/router combo, here’s an alternative: If you’re not willing to buy both a new modem and router separately, beg, borrow or buy a new router. Connect that to your DGND4000. If your DGND4000 is using subnet 192.168.0.x, let your new router be a second gateway at 192.168.1.1. That will give you the privacy you need behind the modem/router combo and may fix the weird mJ+ reboot problem since you’re in a subnet behind the new router. Like I said, try borrowing a router first. If that doesn’t fix your DGND4000 problems, it’s unfortunately time to find a less flakey modem and router.

          As to the slowness of integrated vs component: Given components of equal or better capability, I suspect it’s less about slowness and more about latency. Every hop contributes to latency. Distance adds latency. The difference in latency between one and two hops will be too negligible for most people to measure, much less notice, especially if the hops are both on your desktop. Given the crummy state of your current integrated unit, the component method might actually be better.

          Microwave can be super fast. What’s you’re up/down speed from a close-by server on speedtest.net?

  16. Chris,

    There have been a host of problems with this DGND4000 modem router. So far, Netgear has sent me 4 units under warranty.

    It is not one provided by Frontier although their wireless modem router is made by Netgear. Because I am using my own e=device, not theirs, Frontier won’t even talk to me about the issues.

    What happened to this “Firewall” that Netgear touts? I have an email notification set up for the router to send me a notice whenever there is a particular event (DOS, rule event, etc.), but it does not work! The DGND4000 and its predecessors only will send email via port 25 and Frontier uses port 465 and SSL. Netgear has sent me 5 iterations of firmware attempts to fix this problem, but none of them has worked, so far. The last was a couple of days ago. Also, if you backup your router setting, they won’t restore. Another problem is in the security site blocking feature, it will not accept a URL (no imbedded periods) although their literature says keywords and domains.

    I have avoided having a modem and a router as I thought it would be slower than an integrated unit – any comments?

    BTW, the setup I have at our other home is a modem and router separately (microwave link to ISP, not the DSL2+ I have here).

    I certainly appreciate your comments – Thanks.

  17. Chris,
    I just purchased my MJ 2014. I plugged it into my computer and the blue and red light came on. i have a dial tone on the phone. No green light on, blue and red on all the time. No blinking green and red lights.
    Jim

    1. Jim,
      There is automatically a dialtone even before you register and activate the device. This gives you about a day to figure out whether the device will work for you. That way, you can return the device unactivated and unregistered if you don’t like the voice quality. I suspect the lights won’t function properly until you are activated and registered.
      Chris

  18. I learned that a flashing red light is not always a warning for something bad happening. Thanks for letting me know that my MJ is booted up and working as designed by explaining what the normal lighting for the warning lights on the MJ are. And also I was wandering around wondering what the USB and WIFI ports were for and you have answered that as well. So I guess we wait and see what MJ the maker actually uses these features for. Hopefully MJ the company will continue on and be there to keep making what they have to offer better and cheaper each year. I wonder if the reversed polarity for the phone hand set will effect the quality of the mic and speaker in the hand set?

    1. The polarity checking circuitry in all modern phones fairly well prevents the likelihood of speaker and mic quality being co-opted by magicJack device line polarity. It’s been a year and nothing has yet happened with the device lineup they were supposed to have created. Wait and see indeed! :D

  19. I just received a 2014 MJ+ to replace my 2012 MJ+ because it died after 2 years. They sent me the replacement for just shipping cost so that was nice. Anyway, I did verify that the new 2014 unit I received still has the reversed polarity. The reverse polarity works fine with my modern phones and a 1970’s Mickey Mouse touch tone phone. Also, thanks for posting your video as I didn’t know what the lights meant on the new 2014 MJ+ so now I do! :) Cheers!

  20. I believe the non-polarity issue is built in obsolescence eventually causing device failure, thus having one buy a replacement model. I currently own all three MJ units and my 2012 just went half volume yesterday for no apparent reason. Searching for solution on internet. I enjoyed your video.

    1. Glad you enjoyed the video. I’m not sure why some devices have volume issues, but I’m guessing it may have to do with build quality control. I’m not sure how planned obsolescence fits the bill when you consider that most modern phones still work fine with the mJ+ 2014 because of modern polarity correction circuits. If it was a mistake, I have to wonder if the engineer who let it happen was fired.

  21. This may help someone. I bought and installed a 2014 MJ early this year and it worked very good. I used it in Florida for 3 months then took it to New York and just plugged in an outlet without any problems. After about 2 months it stopped working. The power supply had quit and the MJ would only work plugged in the computer. I borrowed a working supply and it still would not work Even though I had good dial tone and blue and green lights on.. I got MJ online support and went though the whole process shutting down the router and reinserting all plugs and wires. It still would not work and they decided to send me a new one for only shipping cost. When it came I followed the directions to get the number transferred to the new one but had to get support to help. We got it working on the computer and I thought I was good to go. Later I plugged in the wall and it would not work acting just like the first one, I then replaced router cord that came with the new MJ and the red light started blinking and it started working fine. None asked me about the red light only the blue one. I could not find any info about the lights until I searched and was led to this forum. .If I knew about the red light I may have replaced the wire without all this trouble. Jim

    1. I wish you had been able to see the video earlier in your troubles, but I’m glad you were finally able to resolve the issue. It is unfortunate that even magicJack’s own chat support hadn’t thought to check whether you might have a faulty Ethernet cable before making you go through all those troubles. I’m glad you were able to resolve the issue on your own. Score for you!

  22. I’m not really very good with electronics but i think polarity problems was done in propose so no one can use it as FAX .

    i don’t know .

    1. Ben,
      Oops. It looks like you already saw this after I replied to your comment in another post. Like most modern phones, most modern fax machines have a polarity-correcting circuit that ensures proper connection. The real problem is the dreadfully slow connection speed necessary to use a fax machine with magicJack. You’re better off using your scanner to scan to pdf. Then email the pdf.
      Good luck!

  23. Hi Chris:
    I have MJ plus bought Oct 2013. The usb power adapter failed for the second time in 9 months so I got a better quality one locally. Plugging the MJ into my computer it automatically downloaded an update and works fine in the computer but will not work with the usb power adapter and ethernet cord plugged into the router as it used to do. Green and blue lights come on but red light does not. Phone gives dial tone but will not dial or receive calls. The router is Netgear B90-755044-15 rev 2, on a Frontier DSL only line in western Michigan. The router does not see the MJ plugged into its port and when the router lists its ports it shows only the computer plugged in and nothing else. Does their power adapter have any connection to the signal wires or does it just provide 5 volt dc on the power leads? When the system worked ok in the past I noticed that the MJ unit got mildly warm when used with the computer but quite hot when used with their power adapter. Is that normal? Did the update it automatically downloaded screw things up? I appreciate your advice and help, Thanks.

    1. Frank,
      My update went without a hitch, as seen in this post and video, but you would not be the first person to wonder if the update messed up your magicJack. The best thing to do is diagnose.
      You’ve already diagnosed that it’s working from your computer. That’s good. Can you connect it using the USB AC adapter from your tablet or phone? (1 amp to 2 amp AC USB adapter is best). Some house circuits, surge protectors and UPS’s are electrically “noisy”. I’ve had to return two UPS’s that wouldn’t work with my magicJack in the past. This is pure speculation, but maybe the update could have changed how your magicJack tolerates line noise. Have you tried a different wall socket not on the same circuit? If you’re using a surge protector or UPS, have you tried plugging it in directly to the wall outlet? If it worked before with your modem and router, have you rebooted your router? These are things I might try. Please write back to let us all know how it goes.

      Best of luck!

  24. I’ve had my magicjack plus for several years now and just recently started hearing noises in my line and when I try to may a call it takes about 20 second now and when I use to have a right away dial tone, can someone explain this.

    1. ADC,
      Have you tried updating your device to the latest version of the firmware? It may or may not help. I’ve not heard of a 20-second delay to initiate calls before. Have you recently changed ISP’s or changed to a lower-speed flavor of bandwidth for your internet? I assume you’re using a physical device and not the phone app.

      Chris

    2. ADC – My guess is that there is something wrong at magicJack/VocalTec’s end, possibly with the server that your MJ phone number is assigned to connect to. I recommend that you notify MJ of the problem via their chat support.

  25. My magic jack plus power light is on (blue) but the internet and phone lights are off…
    What can I do? I checked the device and it is still registered..and i have tried shutting off and restarting everything..

    1. This happened to me recently too. I swapped out for a different 1 amp USB power adapter and now it’s working fine. Try a different USB power adapter.

  26. Red light not coming on on my magic jack, I have dial tone and I can break dial tone when I try to call a number however it won’t ring on the other end, and I get no incoming calls, any suggestions

    1. Sorry this has taken so long.
      I have a lot of suggestions, but the most important one is — do you need to renew?
      Chris

  27. Red light not coming on on my magic jack, I have dial tone and I can break dial tone when I try to call a number however it won’t ring on the other end, and I get no incoming calls, any suggestions

  28. Hi Chris,
    I am not able to figure out this problem and i hope you can help. My mother has a MJ plus 2012 and keeps getting error 3002 all the time. it works well when connected to a computer but not when the MJ is connected to the power supply. She has tried connecting her MJ in her neighbors DSL modem(just like hers) and she gets a dial tone on the phone and all is working well there. She tried changing the MJ plus connector that connects to the power strip without luck. Now here’s the interesting part, I brought my MJ plus 2014 that works perfectly in my house in another city to my mom’s place and plugged it in to check and I get 3002 error message again

    1. Try a wall socket for the power from a different fuse line. Sometimes electrical lines are too noisy for magicJack.

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