Identify/change your MagicJack proxy to fix call quality issues

MagicJack is selling like hotcakes across the country. This is great for the parent company, but can present challenges for consumers purchasing the device, especially if you live in one of their busy markets (ie Atlanta for me). I have 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 pops and cracks in my calls, I began to wonder if maybe the MagicJack server was slightly overloaded, and if so, was there a way to change the server? After going through all the program’s options, I realized that there was no way to specify a different server from within the MagicJack app, but having a good understanding of networking, I was sure I could find some tricks.

After experimenting, I found that if a MagicJack server was unavailable, 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 that pointed to a nonexistent 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 of static. This tip for optimizing MagicJack and fixing some common problems is what I needed to get rid of my home phone bill. Just a warning, these next few steps are pretty technical, so be careful or ask a tech-savvy friend for help!

Find your proxy to fix common MagicJack issues

To effectively optimize MagicJack and troubleshoot call quality issues, you must first identify the proxy server you are using. The steps below describe how to identify the proxy servers and vms that MagicJack is currently using to complete calls:

Step 1) Download 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) Start MagicJack
Step 3) Identify the Process ID (PID) of MagicJack

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 PID as described above, run: pmdump [pid] magicjack.txt
Step 6) Open magicjack.txt using a text editor and search for the string: s=ENSResip

For example, if you connect to the Atlanta proxy, you should see:

o=- 390440284 390440284 EN IP4 216.234.78.8
s=ENSResip
c=EN IP4 216.234.78.20

Note the IP addresses for the proxy servers and vms (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 optimizing MagicJack and fixing 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 vms and proxy servers to a nonexistent 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 the wrong 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 absolutely the best), you essentially repeat the above process, but block ALL proxy servers except the one you want to use.