Fix MagicJack issues by adjusting and changing your proxy settings
Identify/change your MagicJack proxy to fix call quality issues
MagicJack is selling like hot cakes across the country. This is great for the parent company, but it can present challenges for consumers buying the device, especially if you live in one of their crowded markets (ie Atlanta for me). I’ve been working on various tips and tricks to optimize MagicJack and fix some common issues, and this one solves the problem mentioned above. After experiencing some clicks and cracks in my calls, I began to wonder if perhaps the MagicJack server was slightly overloaded, and if so, was there a way to change the server. After examining all of the program’s options, I realized that there was no way to specify a different server from within the MagicJack application, but having a good knowledge of networking, I was sure that I could find some tricks.
After experimenting, I found that if a MagicJack server was down, it was automatically routed to the next available server, so in my case, if the Atlanta server was down for some reason, I was automatically routed to the next closest server. . or Memphis, Tennessee. To make MagicJack think Atlanta was down, I created a fake route on my computer pointing to a non-existent server, and once MagicJack determined that it couldn’t connect to Atlanta, as expected, I was sent to Memphis. I jumped with excitement realizing that the quality was now PERFECT. There were no more clicks or crackles, and none of my call recipients complained about static. This tip to optimize MagicJack and fix some common problems is just the one I needed to get rid of my house phone bill. Just a word of warning, these next steps are pretty technical, so be careful or ask a tech-savvy friend for help!
Find your proxy to fix common MagicJack problems
In order to effectively optimize MagicJack and fix call quality issues, you must first identify the proxy server you are using. The steps below describe how to identify the proxies and vms that MagicJack is currently using to complete calls:
Step 1) Download the pmdump application from http://www.ntsecurity.nu/toolbox/pmdump/ – pmdump allows you to dump the memory of a particular process; so we will get the proxy server
Step 2) Launch MagicJack
Step 3) Identify the MagicJack Process ID (PID)
a) Open a command prompt (start->run->cmd).
b) Run pmdump -list
c) Look for “magicjack.exe” in the output. Note the number associated with it (usually 3-4 digits).
Step 4) Make at least one call
Step 5) Using the command prompt and the PID as described above, run: pmdump [pid] magicjack.txt
Step 6) Open magicjack.txt using a text editor and find the string: s=ENSResip
For example, if you connect to the Atlanta proxy, you should see:
or=- 390440284 390440284 EN IP4 216.234.78.8
s=ENSResip
c=EN IP4 216.234.78.20
Note the IP addresses for the proxy and vms servers (216.234.78.8 for proxy and 216.234.78.20 for vms).
You’ve found your proxy, now it’s time to change it.
Windows has a great built-in feature for setting “paths” for servers. As I mentioned earlier in the article, the next trick to optimize MagicJack and fix call quality issues is to make MagicJack think the Atlanta server is down, so it will default to the next available server. With the “route” command, you can set the Atlanta proxies and vms to a non-existent IP address on your local network (if your computer is 192.168.1.2, you could use anything in that range, so 192.168.1.39). To do this, run the following command from the command prompt:
road add [ip of proxy] mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.39 -p
road add [ip of vms] mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.39 -p
The above command will tell your computer that the MagicJack proxy server is actually at 192.168.1.39, which is an incorrect address, so MagicJack will try the next available and hopefully less busy server. The -p option tells your computer to keep the path persistent or to remember it after reboot. If you want to use a specific proxy server (ie you decide that the server in Austin, Texas is the absolute best), you basically repeat the process above, but block ALL proxies except the one you want to use.
