Vonage vs. MagicJack - A Comparative Analysis

I am a IT professional and have my own IT company in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  I often need to research topics that are not easily found with simple searches on the internet and require me to piece information together to come up with a solution.  My goal with this blog is to share some of the information I've compiled every few days, in hopes that some may find it interesting and others may find it useful.

My first post today will be about some of the basic pros and cons a customer asked me to compile about Vonage and MagicJack.  Neither service is very transparent about their plans, services and pricing, so I hope this information can help someone who is comparing the two services:

	Vonage	MagicJack
Initial Setup Fee:	FREE with 12 mo. Agreement & Month to Month Plans	None, besides equipment purchase. One year of free local and long distance calling to the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are included with your initial purchase.
Equipment Costs:	FREE with 12 mo. Agreement & Month to Month Plans	magicJack™ USB Phone Jack = $40 (requires PC connection) magicJack PLUS™ VoIP Phone Adapter = $70 (can be plugged in to PC or used stand-alone)
Able to Port Existing Number:	Yes, FREE	Yes, $19.99 one-time fee and $9.95 annual charge after the first year
Initial Term Required:	12 mo. Agreement or Month to Month Plans (30 day money-back guaranty)	No Term Required
Basic Residential Calling Plan:	$9.99/mo. + tax	One year of free local and long distance calling to the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are included with your initial purchase.
Fax Service Supported:	Yes, included at no charge with residential plan	Yes, included at no charge with equipment purchase
International Calling:	$9.99/mo. for 6 months, then $24.99/mo. w/ 12 mo. Agreement.  If month-to-month it’s $9.99/mo. for 3 months, then $24.99/mo. ($0.25 to $0.28/min for international cell calling)	You must prepay for international minutes (Italy, Germany & UK = $0.02/min)
Early Termination Fee:	$120 Termination Fee w/ 12 mo. Agreement (reduces by $10/mo. each month during term)	No Termination Fee