Review of netTALK's TK6000 (MagicJack killer)

The following is my own opinion, and is not biased. YMMV.

The Ordering Process
I finally took the plunge on Aug 28th after watching and reading the forums for about a month and decided to order. At the time of ordering, the offer was 4 payments $24.95 + shipping. When getting to the second screen, they offered me free shipping if I was willing to pay in full now. I decided against this, but changed my mind at the end of the order and could not go back to accept the free shipping offer. AFAIK, this process has been changed after leaving appropriate feedback of the ordering process.

The second screen offered me another TK6000 with the same number for only $79.99 + s/h. Sure, why not! Next screen offered me another TK6000 with free shipping for a friend and no discount, which I passed on, and the final screen offered a 5 year warranty on all devices I ordered today for only $19.95 vs the 1 year standard warranty. Since I was purchasing 2 devices, that's about 10% of the product price for 5 years of coverage which I felt was a good value, so I purchased that, too.

Shipping/Tracking/Billing
A received an e-mail almost immediately confirming my order. At the bottom of the order, it stated "Please allow 7-14 business days for delivery.
Your credit card will not be charged until your order is shipped," so I was very impressed/surprised when on Sept 1 I saw a charge on my credit card from Nettalk! Unfortunately, I didn't get a tracking number until the 4th and it didn't actually leave until Sept 9th. However, I received my package only 2 days later on Sept 11th, so overall, it was within the expected time frame.

For the stalkers out there, here's my tracking info: http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?&tracknumbers=91021854563561228356...

Unboxing
For just spending $19.90 on shipping/handling, I expected to see a lot of bubble wrap inside the box. But when I opened the box, the 2 TK6000 kits I ordered were just sitting back-to-back with an invoice underneath. Luckily, the TK6000s are packaged well, and the box did fit them well, so the likelihood of damage was very minimal (see pic). Still, I would have felt better if it was shipped more protected.

At first glance, the TK6000 looks/feels very similar to a MagicJack. In fact, I had to do a little Googling because one of the components used, the Ethernet port, CLEARLY shows "MagJack" on it. Google told me that it's just the name of a part, and in no way is associated with MagicJack. I do, however, recommend that netTALK covers this up or uses a different manufacturer to avoid confusion and conspiracy theories.....

As stated above, there was very little opportunity for the TK6000 to be damaged in shipping so I was disappointed to see the exact same scratches/impact marks on the side where the MINI USB goes as well as a scuff on the top between the phone and Ethernet jacks on both TK6000s. This clearly came from assembly, especially since they were in the same spots (see pics). Maybe assembling in the USA isn't a good idea?

Underneath the physical device is the login information on a card to login to your netTALK account. You will need to login to put your customer information in for E911 to work. You also need this information if you want to change your number (or put one on there), enable call forwarding, etc.

Let's Try It....
The unique selling points of the TK6000 are it's ready to go out of the box and no PC is needed. So I plugged in the Ethernet cable, the phone, and then the power. Less than 20 seconds, and my phone rang indicating that it was ready to go. Or so I thought. Busy signal.

I played with both devices using other phones, connections, and PCs, and other than the first time, the phone never rang again to indicate it was ready to go. I even plugged directly into my modem, using both a patch cable and the included cable and no-go. I logged into my account, and did not see a phone number assigned to my TK6000s, so I put in a trouble ticket on Friday night and assumed the problem at this point was that no phone number was assigned to my TK6000s.

Next day, Saturday, I decided to visit my parents and I took my TK6000s over to show them, along with my phone. Just for grins, I plugged it in to my parents router and it rang in less than 20 seconds. Hmmmm. Let's make a call. Worked perfectly, but was showing my card number as the phone number. Maybe they worked on my ticket?

I went back home, plugged in, nothing. A thought then occurred to me about putting my modem into bridge mode; I have a SlingBox, and when working with Embarq (my DSL provider) support, it needed to be put into bridge mode to work. I don't remember why, but I switched out of bridge mode awhile back, so I figured what-the-hey. BINGO! Within 20 seconds of me putting the modem into bridge mode, I was able to make calls.

Local Number
Monday, I put in a ticket to get a phone number assigned and get a local number. Within 2 hours, I had a temporary number so I could make/receive calls, and within a total of 4 hours, I had a local number!

Here's where it gets a bit confusing- I purchased 2 TK6000s so I could have the same number. Tech support has it setup when I receive a call, both devices ring (similar to using Google Voice), but as far as OUTGOING calls, only 1 will show up on caller ID with my local number; it shows my card number. I may just need to update my ticket or this may be as good as it gets, but technically, I do not have the same number on the second device because NO number is on it.

So how does it work already?!
Before I get into great detail, let me explain my reason for purchasing- I purchased a MagicJack a year ago because I found the only reason I was using my home phone was for Dish Network's requirement that I have a phone line plugged in. So last Sept, I cut the landline, purchased a MagicJack and a thin client (a low-power using PC), and was dandy. But MagicJack changed something around last Nov/Dec, and I have been unable to dial out to Dish Network for it's status checks and am getting charged $5/mo extra that Dish is unwilling to remove.

So that said, I was excited when I saw a device that didn't require me to have a dedicated PC running 24/7 to be used. And since others posted that they could fax using the TK6000 whereas they couldn't with MagicJack, I figured this would work perfectly.

AND I WAS RIGHT! It works perfectly with Dish Network's status updates. I also tried it to view/pay bill, and that too worked great.

So since my primary reason to own the TK6000 works, I decided to use both the TK6000 and the MagicJack for exactly what they were meant for- calling. I called my mom on my cell phone to explain to her what I was doing, and told her I wanted opinions of the quality of calls.

First up was the MagicJack in Aircard/3G mode. It worked, but was very quiet and just didn't have a high voice quality. There was no garbling, distortions, or delays.

Next was the MagicJack in regular mode. Worked fine, sounded like a cellphone call, but at times were echoing/lagging.

Finally, it was time for the TK6000. The quality was EXCELLENT and sounded like a static-free landline. I told my mom I've never talked to her on the phone so clearly before, and she agreed. We kept talking, and she said I garbled a bit like Max Headroom (go Google him, youngins). It was consistently random, happening about every 30 seconds or so. It may have been related to my network; to the best of my knowledge, nothing else was using my internet connection at the time of testing, but I did have echoing/lagging with MagicJack as well and I used that perfectly before when traveling.

I was also able to plug a 2 phone splitter into the TK6000 and it worked, but the MagicJack doesn't like it and would only ring/power 1 phone at a time.

Overall.....
Before I give my overall opinion and comparisons, I do want to mention that a year ago, I purchased my MagicJack and though it was easy to setup out of the box to create an account and pick an area code, it wouldn't work. 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, which has NO association with MagicJack. After finding out that all I needed done was them to refresh my account at their end, it took an hour and a half of web chat before I could get anyone to break their script of things to have me try and actually listen to my "suggestion" on getting it to work.

That said above, it's very refreshing to have a number to call for support (though I didn't use it), a forum provided by netTALK that is allowing good, bad, and ugly comments to be posted without being removed and that are actually listening and implementing suggestions that are posted, and a very responsive trouble-ticket support.

Pros of TK6000 (at least at time of review):
-No PC required, so saves power
-No additional yearly fees (unlimited forever)
-Able to be used for faxing, dial-up VPN/ISPs, and satellite providers
-VERY clear calls
-No time limit of calls
-800 support number
-Company-supported forums for support and suggestions
-Responsive tech support
-Able to plug in more than one phone/device at the same time
-Free to change number/area code
-Promising to be able to port number to TK6000 in the future

Cons of TK6000 (at least at time of review):
-Upfront cost
-Unknown company
-You will more-than-likely need to put in a support ticket to get a local number
-No weekend tech support
-You may have computability issues with modem/router

Pros of MagicJack (at least at time of review):
-Minimal investment with $19.99/year service renewal (or cheaper)
-Works with any PC connected to the internet that doesn't have restricted privileges
-More-than-likely will work without needing to change your modem/router settings
-Softphone on PC can allow you to make/receive calls using speaker and mic w/o a phone
-Easy-to-use login page to maintenance such as call forwarding or changing your number
-Aircard/dialup connection option so you can still use with a slower internet connection
-Recognition- it's now available at CVS, Best Buy, etc

Cons of MagicJack (at least at time of review):
-MUST have PC running to be used
-If you make a call, the softphone pops up on the PC and will interrupt the PC user
-Little-to-no actual support, but they can help you learn how to plug it in and open ports
-Will cost more in the long run due to renewal fees and PC power consumption
-No option of extended warranty
-Fragile protruding USB port that can be bent or damaged easily
-If you break your device, you cannot transfer your number
-No option to port your number
-Not able to be used for faxing, dial-up VPN/ISPs, and satellite providers
-Limited length of calls (2hrs)

Final thoughts....
IMHO, the netTALK is a far superior device compared to the MagicJack. But at the time of review, MagicJack does work right out of the box and requires little-to-no technical knowledge to use, whereas I did not experience the same simplicity with the TK6000. It appears that simplicity is the long-term goal of the netTALK, especially since it doesn't even require a PC to be used, but I right now I had to work to get it working.

I would recommend that you be a MagicJack owner before you purchase the TK6000 because you may not appreciate all of the benefits that the TK6000 has to offer until you're frustrated with the MagicJack, such as having to have a PC on to use it, having to have admin rights on the PC to install the software, or needing to fax.

Now that the TK6000 is working in my home, it's not going to be unplugged. But my concern is if I travel with my other device, is it going to work when I get to my hotel or will I have to ask the hotel manager to change settings on their modem/router? For that reason, I think my second device will be sold to a friend or returned, and the MagicJack will be kept for traveling.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3935/nettalk1.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9885/nettalk2.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1687/nettalk3.jpg
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/6802/nettalk4.jpg

RE:
Local number

I would go for the TK6000 if I knew they had local numbers for me.
Did you know ahead of they would have one for you?
I see nothing on the site about it, as all other voips do. (have faqs for numbers available)

yesidonoitall said: RE:
Local number


I would go for the TK6000 if I knew they had local numbers for me.
Did you know ahead of they would have one for you?
I see nothing on the site about it, as all other voips do. (have faqs for numbers available)

Yes/no. Here's a link showing area codes available: http://faq.nettalk.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&do...

When I logged into my account, there was no local number shown for me to grab so I had to put in a ticket which took about 4 hours and I had a local number. Now local numbers are showing up to my area, so I could change it really easily without a ticket now.

yesidonoitall said: RE:
Tech support has it setup when I receive a call, both devices ring (similar to using Google Voice), but as far as OUTGOING calls, only 1 will show up on caller ID with my local number;


Does it offer simultaneous ring?
(not the same as call forward or having 2 devices with same incoming number)

Yes, both will ring at the same time.

BTW, must you always double-post?

RE:
BTW, must you always double-post?

I see no double post.
Do you mean separating questions and each having it's own post?

UPdownLoAD said:

For the stalkers out there, here's my tracking info: http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?&tracknumbers=91021854563561228356...

LOL!!

Great review and even a better reply. Thanks!

dumroo said: Now if it can be hacked to talk to any SIP provider.

Not sure what the advantage of this would be, as you would already have free unlimited calling for just the purchase of the device......

......however.....to fuel your fire, I would assume it would be very easy to do because it has an IP and a MAC address.....

dumroo said: Now if it can be hacked to talk to any SIP provider.Instead of hacking a $100 TK6000 device, why not hack a cheaper cost ATA, which will work with SIP providers? Did you actually mean to say: hack the netTALK service to work on any SIP ATA device?

I'm still waiting on my TK 6000 ordered on Sept 1. If this company wants to succeed they are going to have to revamp their shipping dept. I have seen several posts on the Nettalk forums about shipping problems. This is inexcusable for a device that is so small and should get from factory to purchaser in less than a week.

Thanks op for the excellent analysis. I'll have to look into it even though I'm a very happy MJ user. Since the last software update around the end of the year, I've had no issues with restarting. MJ is now very stable.

I want to add that I posted this feedback on their forum, http://forum.nettalk.com and my issue of the caller id was resolved within 30 minutes of my posting, and that was without a trouble ticket!

Like I said above, the support, especially with the forum, is FAR superior than MagicJack. But because of the issues of configuration of the modem/router/open ports, I do intend to renew my MagicJack (at least for 1 year) so I'm able use VoIP on the road for sure. The first device is staying at home and will be kept.

I don't believe it's a long-term issue- all it would take to resolve the issues is a PC program that can detect what type of network config you have and push the settings to the TK6000. I know it's a catch 22 since it's meant to be used w/o a PC, but if you only had to use it when it doesn't work, it does resolve the concern of it not working on foreign networks.

lemonhead said: sounds JUST LIKE the Magic Jack ordering process - order an additional for a discount - free shipping if paid in full, ordering one for a friend!

may i ask a question - did you typo the statement that said you ordered a second unit with the SAME NUMBER? I'm trying to figure out why you would have done that.

I got Duped (it was probably my own fault though) when I ordered my Magic Jack - i was planning on using 2 magic jacks on one computer - one for phone, one for fax - however with the way MJ works, the last MJ to be plugged in was the only active unit capable of handling phone calls - now, if this truly works like MJ with the exception of it not requiring a computer, I can see having 2 with different numbers, but not 2 with the same (not jabbin' ya, i'm just curious if you actually have to devices with the same number or do you have 2 with different numbers.

I'm getting ready to bite the bullet I think - I just need to justify spending the money - I'm going to test my computer with my kill-a-watt and see how long it will take to pay for the new device.
do you by chance have a kill-a-watt so you can test the power consumption from the new device so i can factor that into my equation? (if it sounds like i'm being cheap, i kinda am, but with 2 Magic Jack subs plus 5 years of service on each and the power consumption use on my computer that handles MJ, I would like a better cost analysis for my needs.)

Thanks for your review thus far -

No typo- they allow you to have 2 devices that use the same number; I wanted to leave one at the office and one at home, and if I receive a call, both would ring. That also would allow me to make calls using the same number. And not that I have anyone that lives with me, but they would be able to use the same number and make a call when I could be using it at the office. When they allow porting, this is a VERY nice feature that will drive sales.

I do not have a kill-a-watt, but I can give you some basic numbers that might help; I was running a 20w thin client 24/7 + the MagicJack, and now I only have to run the TK6000. The power source for the TK6000 is a mini-usb charger. I'll take a look at it when I get home, but if it's the same as the Moto Q I used to have, I think it was about 350mah.

lemonhead said: loking at my kill-a-watt readings right now - my computer is costing me $76 per year to run 24x7 - that'll pay for one of those TK6000 devices in less than or say 2 years depending on the power consumption of the usb power source. yeah, i could shut it down at night, but then i'd potentially miss calls in the morning or forget to turn it on altogether.

and since i have 2 x 5 year magic jacks, i can take those with me on out of town trips!!!!

guess i'll check to see if they have any number availability in my area.

one more question.

do they send your voicemail to your email to be able to listen to it say on an iphone?

IMHO, MagicJack is a great backup phone or travel phone, but does not replace a home phone. The TK6000 does.

I do like the phone number I have with my MagicJack, but it's mostly used for outgoing calls not incoming, so I'll probably just leave it unplugged and setup call forwarding to my TK6000. Problem solved

I haven't played with or setup the voicemail, so I couldn't tell you. You may want to read or post on the forum, http://forum.nettalk.com

their TOS states:

The TK 6000 is intended for use only in the United States. If you remove the TK 6000 to a country other than the United States and attempt to use the Service from there, you do so at your own risk, including the risk that such activity violates local laws in the country where you do so. netTALK.com reserves the right to terminate your service immediately and without advance notice if you violate the above restrictions, leaving you responsible for all outstanding charges, all of which immediately become due and payable.

but on their home page they state that you can "Take the TK6000 on the go when you travel internationally and call back to any phone in US or Canada for free."

dawpa2000 said: SuperET said: their TOS states:

The TK 6000 is intended for use only in the United States. If you remove the TK 6000 to a country other than the United States and attempt to use the Service from there, you do so at your own risk, including the risk that such activity violates local laws in the country where you do so. netTALK.com reserves the right to terminate your service immediately and without advance notice if you violate the above restrictions, leaving you responsible for all outstanding charges, all of which immediately become due and payable.


but on their home page they state that you can "Take the TK6000 on the go when you travel internationally and call back to any phone in US or Canada for free."I guess netTALK only terminates your account only if the country's laws are violated.

You may want to ask about it on the netTALK forums. AFAIK, no one has brought it up, and since I'll probably never leave the US, it doesn't effect me.

UPdownLoAD said:

Finally, it was time for the TK6000. The quality was EXCELLENT and sounded like a static-free landline. I told my mom I've never talked to her on the phone so clearly before, and she agreed. We kept talking, and she said I garbled a bit like Max Headroom (go Google him, youngins). It was consistently random, happening about every 30 seconds or so. It may have been related to my network; to the best of my knowledge, nothing else was using my internet connection at the time of testing, but I did have echoing/lagging with MagicJack as well and I used that perfectly before when traveling.

Pros of TK6000 (at least at time of review):
-VERY clear calls
[/L]

So which is it? Garbled every 30 seconds is not "very clear calls".

UPdownLoAD said: yesidonoitall said: RE:
Local number

Yes/no. Here's a link showing area codes available: http://faq.nettalk.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&do...


Wrong. This is just a may of the area codes in the US. It does not show if they are actually available.

How does it compare with Ooma?

-JB137

markbyte said: I bought 2 new wireless routers a few years ago. One I used here at my house and the other I gave to my brother in law who lives about 1.5 hours away. Approximately 2 years later, BOTH of our routers died within the same month! What were the odds of that?Looks like your routers were made by the same person!

OO, I liked your extensive review, Thanks.

But I would like to know if the TK6000 works on the road, with no connection issues? You said you were going to take your MJ when you travel to use it, but could you also try out the TK6000, and let us know what you discover? Thanks.

I found it interesting that your second TK6000 does not show up in caller ID when calling out? That would make it interesting for some who prefer to remain anonymous.

for hotels with wifi, you can bring a laptop and use the TK6000 like a MagicJack.

UPdownLoAD said: yesidonoitall said: UPdownLoAD said: Lunati777 said: I ordered Net Talk about a month ago and I'm sad to say that I've had nothing but problems ever since. Sometimes I cant recieve calls, sometimes I cant make calls, many times my calls have been cut off mid conversation. I realize this is a new company and they have some bugs to work out but in the meantime the customers are suffering! I Had Magic Jack and although that wasnt perfect, I didnt have Near the problems with it! Net Talk, if you want to keep your customers, then GET IT TOGETHER!!!!!!!


Do you have the TK6000 or the new Duo?

 

Google search for DUO, no VOIP came up

http://www.nettalk.com/why

Unless I missed it, it appears Duo cannot tell me what they have in the 541 area code.
I do not want my neighbors to have to call Salem Oregon to get me in Grants Pass..
I must add, MJ did not have local numbers for me either.