NetTalk challenges MagicJack, gets slammed by MagicJack founder
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 21st 2010 3:24PM
posted January 21st 2010 3:24PM
Air enough annoying late-night commercials and you're bound to attract a few imitators, and it looks like MagicJack now has its first courtesy of upstart NetTalk. Same basic idea here: buy a VoIP box (for $100, in this case), plug in your phone, and make all the long distance calls you want. Of course, MagicJack's outspoken founder Dan Borislow wasn't about it slide by without notice, and he fully lit into the company in a recent interview with Laptop Magazine. Head on past the break to check out the choice quote for yourself -- but first, a word of warning, it's a bit salty. No response from NetTalk just yet, but we have a nagging feeling that this won't be the last we hear of this budding rivalry -- at least we hope it's not.It's a piece of shit. It has static. The call quality is pathetic. There's no phone numbers available, and it's run by a bunch of fly-by-nights with no assets. They'll be bankrupt soon. We're a real company with the best network and best software.
"It’s a piece of sh*t." wow, classy.
@ViperVin
Yeah, that the professionalism I like to see from a "real company".
@ViperVin If someone stole your potential money making idea then even you'd be infuriated.
Look at the rivalry Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had, and they have more money than the whole of Africa does.
I doubt anyone else would be less infuriated.
@dedparrot
Damn I accidentally hit the +1 button when replying, someone wanna counter that for me? Any way. ITS CALLED COMPETITION. Its what our country was founded on. Besides what was his great "money making idea"? VoIP? Hahahahahahaha.
@ViperVin
Sometimes a piece of shit needs to be called out as a piece of shit. That said, the freaking MagicJack guy isn't really much of a judge I don't think
@ViperVin Can't expect classy from "MagicJack".
@ViperVin
This should be a CE-OH NO HE DIDN'T
@ViperVin
The funny thing is he actually talks like you'd expect from the founder of MagicJack which is a device that is about as ghetto in a technical sense as one can get. The only thing that would make MagicJack even more ghetto is if it worked over WiFi. That way users could steal their neighbor's broadband Internet connection and make that call for carryout pickup down to the local liquor store.
I'm fairly certain Verizon's CEO could say the same about MagicJack.
@ViperVin
Here's MagicJack's founder telling you your business card sucks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2mHkQUBEpM&feature=related
@ViperVin With MagicJack having a new femtocell product that lets you wirelessly reroute your cell phone calls through the MagicJack.
It could spell a real dispute between network carriers such as AT&T. The question is, Is this a great news for users or what? Me I agree this is great! ..More details and graph explanation of the new femtocell: http://bit.ly/magic-jack-femto-cells-detail
@credo :
This country was founded on competition? You really hold this truth to be self-evident? WTF? You need to read some history books, like "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation"
BURNNNNED
Ahh its so refreshing to see the professionalism of top executives. Better than sugar coating it but if your product really is that much better, shut up and let it do the talking for you.
@JXCGunrunna
He could "shut up and let it do the talking", or he could remember he's in an interview and answer the questions he's being asked by Laptop Magazine.
Maybe Borislow's awful with grammar "There's no phone numbers..." but I can still get a good laugh out of his response.
finally news i care about.
brilliant.
Yeah, turdface calls your stuff a piece of shit.
"It's a piece of shit. It has static. The call quality is pathetic. There's no phone numbers available, and it's run by a bunch of fly-by-nights with no assets. They'll be bankrupt soon."
That could easily be used to talk about his own shitty company.
@Solidstate89
Actually, no. I use two lines of MagicJack and they both work very well for me.
@DirtyVegas
Get out of here, Dan Borislow.
@BrosefStalin Not so fast!
http://consumerist.com/2010/01/consumer-reports-science-shows-magic-jack-is-actually-worthwhile.html
@BrosefStalin
My parents live in Cape Verde (tiny islands off the coast of Africa). It's listed as a developing country and barely has any infrastructure for high speed internet access. They are not even in a city...they are in the country...with the crappiest internet service delivered over the crappiest phone lines.
The MagicJack works perfectly over their low bandwidth DSL phone lines. 5gb montly cap plenty. There is not a time of day that I can't reach them, no static and no dropped calls. Best of all they have a local number.
Say what you want about his comments...tell me that even though I'm out of Boston I'm somehow affiliated with the MagicJack.....but the truth is the MagicJack itself is a great product.
@Joao
I have to echo that as "ghetto" as their sales techniques may be, and as ghetto as their founder may be (a person I find very refreshing, if companies would just say what they mean like he did, everything would take less time :P) MagicJack works - I know at the beginning, like, their first year or so, they had a lot of problems, but after that they've cleaned up their act. For someone who has a cellphone as their main line but wants another secondary "home" line, it works great.
@Solidstate89
I have one and it works great. No static- no echo, just pure clean sound. If others want to compete, that's fine but they won't compete with a $100 device that doesn't work well.
As far as him being classy?... I'm sure he really cares what any of us think of him as he counts his billions.
@BrosefStalin
Last summer, I had a weak moment and a lot of cash in my pocket so I figured it would be a fun thing to try and if it didn't work I would be out of no more than $40. $20 for the year of service and $20 for the device. Having been on VoIP Packet8 for about 5 years, it wasn't like I was new to the VoIP game. I was actually surprised at how well MagicJack worked. Of course there are things they do not tell you about MagicJack until after you install it, but you have to keep your PC on at all times and the software running. The software appears to be designed to display ads in it, but PeerBlock seems to prevent that.
MagicJack does exactly what it's advertised to do. While it does not work as good as Packet8 or Vonage in terms of use... it does indeed work. I was able to pick a number close by, set up 911 Emergency info on it so I can use my MagicJack phone to call 911 and they will see my address. I could easily use any address in that regard, but I have no intentions of using it for nefarious purposes.
I haven't used NetTalk, but I was intrigued a bit when I saw it. Already having an iPhone, Packet8, the Charter bundle with phone service and my MagicJack, I was like why would I ever need another phone. Granted I am about to cancel Packet8 and I never bothered pluging up the phone box with Charter, I mainly did the bundle because it knocked off $30 on my cable bill... but with my iPhone and now the unlimited plan getting dropped to $69, I really do not need my Packet8 phone any more and I don't always leave the MagicJack connected computer on.
Bottom line is, MagicJack does work and if you don't care about their adware dialer crap software and your PC running at all times, $20 a year for unlimited phone service is pretty damn awesome.
AND THATS REAL TALK BITCH....
Well that's fun.
@MarcusMaximus On a side note, why isn't this a CEOhNoHeDidnt? This is probably the single biggest CEO slam I've seen here.
The South Park episode where Giant Douche and Turd Sandwich are running a campaign against each other comes to mind.
Who cares about voice anyway, skype on the laptop or smartphone on wifi said what? Landlines are for dinosaurs~
this is why i'll never trust magicjack. they have sleazy commercials, and i just don't trust the tech. Plus it's pointless when you can make long distance calls for free on just about every single cell network in the US. skype can handle international calls if REALLY necessary.
@vicsvenge actually, magic Jack works fine.
The TK6000 device has been around for months. How come engadget only took notice of it now? When I sent in stuff abotu TK6000 as a tip, you engadget people ignored me! Pfooo!!!!!
@vicsvenge
You can "make long distance calls for free" on cell networks? I'd bet you pay a lot more than free for that cellphone.
I'd bet you are paying more than $1.66 a month for that cellphone, compared to Magicjack.
This is like people bitching about MIDs, saying "but you can just get a cellphone that does that, and it doesn't need a wi-fi hotspot". Not all of us are paying big $$ for unlimited cellphone plans their subsidized phones.
who is the best? magicjack or nettalk? Only one way to find out!
Fiiiiiggghhttt
(ps - its nice to see in this politically correct / post Enron etc world a bit of shit flying around between companies. That is severely lacking these days).
@(Unverified) is that a reference to Harry Hills TV Burp?
@(Unverified) and the winner is...
http://googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=MagicJack&word2=NetTalk
"We're a real company with the best network and best software."
Funny -- I wouldn't have thought MajicJack had its own network.
how stoned is that guy in his picture?
You ignorant little pieces of so and so's.
I'm sure even Steve Jobs plays darts on a picture of Ballmer's head and I'm sure it's true the other way round.
Just because top executives have a clean image in the public eye, doesn't mean that they don't play with blow-up dolls in their million dollar palaces.
I love it; screw being politically correct. You think it is unprofessional? Go read some Winston Churchill quips - that dude was salty. I guess the accent helps him get away with it. I find the directness refreshing.
"It's a piece of s**t" Yeah. like your website, Dan.
If I have to hear your addle brained daughter introduce her frigging dogs one more time I'm going to ram my fist through the screen and strangle all three of them.
@rapitera: That WOULD be funny if you punched a hole through your TV, then realized a second later that you could change the channel...
@Alan Strangis
And that WOULD have been a relevant comment had I been talking about a TV commercial and not the website mentioned in the first line of my post....
All we need is Noel Lee to get involved and this would be a real fight. And perhaps Michael O'Leary. Now there's a CEO who is not afraid to speak his mind.
http://simonneville.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/oleary11.jpg
Good. "Polite" and "honest" are mutually exclusive, and I'd much rather people be honest than polite. Better he says what's on his mind than be a smarmy fuck who lies through his teeth about how he welcomes the competition.
Wow... this is good stuff. Probably generated more interest in his competition as a result of this kind of press.
I was curious so I checked it out.. then I checked financials of the company including 10-k and found:
Net Talk.Com Inc. Auditor Raises 'Going Concern' Doubt
12/14/2009
Net Talk.Com Inc. filed its 10-K on December 14, 2009 for the period ending September 30, 2009. In this report its auditor, KBL, LLP, gave an unqualified opinion expressing doubt that the company can continue as a going concern.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ric=NTLK.OB
Hmmm... Think I might reconsider sending them $99 bucks for that lifetime service.
Does it bother anyone else that the picture of (who I assume is) Dan appears to be taken on a nice and shiny beach where I think it's safe to assume there is a big fireball of a light source above him, yet the light source on him is coming off from the right?
No? Just me? Ok... Just checking...
I know if I wanted to look cool, I would Photoshop myself on a beach too! =]
So ghetto it's awesome. Just like the commercials.
Not very professional at all. His colorful language reminds me of the type of language found at Gizmodo!
What I find most ridiculous about this, is that if someone tried getting a job at MagicJack and used that kind of language they would be considered "unprofessional", yet the owner of the company does it - in a published interview no less - and it's totally OK.