MagicJack Installation, Firewall Setup and Port Settings

Posted by Moushie in Thursday, January 29th 2009 under: How To, Server Management, Technology, Tips and Tricks Tags: access, active, configuration, connectivity, correct, firewall, forward, forwarding, install, installation, installer, jack, magic, magicjack, open, port, settings, setup, sure, usb

Magic Jack, this amazing usb device will allow you to make unlimited calls to the US and Canda for $20.00 per year and better yet, you get a registered landline number that allows you to receive calls. I’ve found a lot of sites on how to set up routers, firewalls and access points to allow Magic Jack to pass through. None of them worked. It was agitating so I had to do some tests on my own. Read on for the complete port lists.

Magic Jack is very easy to install in the first place. Just plug it in and then plug your phone to it. The executable or installer should run automatically, if not open the flash drive, find it and then run it. The next part will deal with firewalls and port settings.

I used Active Ports to find out what ports MagicJack was using and it turns out that it uses a lot of UDP ports and two TCP ports. Their website specifically states that the device only uses UDP ports 5060-5070 (reference: LINK) which I found out was clearly not true. I found this out by performing calls to a random list of phone numbers (except 911 numbers ^_^). I dialed at least 40 phone numbers repeatedly. After this, I was able to conclude that MagicJack uses random UDP ports in the high range. UDP ports might seem a bit less important than TCP ports but as a Systems Administrator this will create a highly unsecured and exposed network. I was only able to achieve 100% connectivity with the 40 phone numbers after opening a range of UDP ports.

I also stumbled upon a lot of sites and forum posts that tell magic jack users to setup port forwarding, this is NOT true!

Below is the exact list of the TCP and UDP Ports that I had to open in my firewall and router (NOT port forward) to achieve 100% connectivity:

TCP Ports List: 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)

UDP Ports List: 5060, 5070, 10000-65535

It is really strange why the device was designed like this. My guess is that the device is intended solely for home use and not commercial use.

30 Comments Already

anis_ber Said,

February 3rd, 2009 @11:33 pm

hello
thx for the info
im kinda newbie, heard that MJ might work with pc if the router supports Qos, im just wondering how can i do that, where to plug the MJ then?
thx for helping me out

Roy L. Besiera Said,

February 7th, 2009 @5:05 pm

I want I want I want… HOE YAHHH!

skarycat Said,

February 9th, 2009 @1:01 am

What do you mean by opening ports? Do you know how to do this on a linksys wrt610n? How is that different from port forwarding?

Bratwurst Recipes Said,

March 2nd, 2009 @8:24 pm

A friend of mine who is not computer savy bought this Magic Jack, and he was able to install it on his own, as well as run it on his own, now if he can do it, anybody can do it! And i mean it , because the guy is over 50 and it was his first computer, he had only used a computer for 2 weeks!!!

Till then,

Jean

Moushie Said,

March 2nd, 2009 @11:10 pm

wow, that’s a really good example of how magic jack is easy to use.

Tim Said,

May 13th, 2009 @11:41 pm

This looks like a great product but my only issue that our security system normally requires a old fashion land line. I doubt this this will work for us. grrr. I will continue to pay $40/month to ma bell.

Payroll Service Florida Said,

June 8th, 2009 @2:24 pm

$20 mean very cheap deal. as said Magic Jack very easy to install so not much worried sure wanna go for it.

STUNed Said,

June 8th, 2009 @3:07 pm

Your behind a NAT firewall, of course the ports keep changing. Go read up on STUN & TURN to understand.

What you show me is that you lack understanding. You should NOT just turn OFF your firewall or put your own computer in the DMZ so it is completely unprotected as you are suggesting with the claims you have to open all ports for it to work. Chances are its not the magicjack but your router that needs an update to properly deal with the use of STUN and TURN.
VOIP traffic is passed via UDP, the TCP traffic you see is the downloading of the ADS, the 5060-5070 are the SIP registration.

Moushie Said,

June 8th, 2009 @7:17 pm

First of all, I never did write in my post that you should turn off your firewall, set the DMZ to your computer for magic jack and open all ports. I guess the solution I posted here is for incompatible routers. I don’t know why but we have another VOIP device from Linksys in the exact same network that I set up. It uses STUN and it works fine with only one or two ports needed to be opened, nevertheless I will try to update the router. thanks,

Flooring Tampa Said,

July 2nd, 2009 @7:37 pm

Sure wanna get it soon, very affordable deal for precious computer and other devices.

Tylor Said,

July 31st, 2009 @12:18 pm

search the google then find your site.
that is a really excellent post.

Thanks for the post.

used tires Said,

August 1st, 2009 @2:33 pm

MagicJack is awesome, personally I wish I had known about it alot sooner than when I discovered it. Ironically I found out about it threw my neighbor who had been using it for a few months =D

Human Resource Management Said,

August 13th, 2009 @1:04 pm

Magic Jack Quite seems much useful devices sure wanna get it also it be affordable.

Lindsey Said,

September 1st, 2009 @8:50 pm

I didn’t know MagicJack but seems useful.

Canada provinces Said,

September 9th, 2009 @10:08 pm

I haven’t used it yet. We did order it because I love the premise but before you get one make sure to check their site for available area codes. They don’t do a good job of telling you ahead of time but it will only work on certain AC’s right now.

Canada provinces Said,

September 9th, 2009 @10:09 pm

Magic Jack service is no good. Go with Vonage service. With Vonage for just 24.99 a month plus taxes and fee you in unlimited local and long distance calls to the us, canada and pr and to 5 european countries.

Current Health News Said,

September 16th, 2009 @2:58 am

I just got my Magic Jack in the mail. I’ve heard so many things,positive and negative about it. I just want to make sure I install it correctly. Currently I only have one account on my pc (administrator account). I’ve heard is not good to install it on an administrator account. Is it absolutely necessary to create a guest account ?I would rather not, but if i have to, I will.What other tips can you give me as far as installation and ensuring it works perfectly?

nono Said,

September 27th, 2009 @5:42 am

yooo good

AR Said,

October 25th, 2009 @4:56 am

I have a magic jack at home it works fine with my dell laptop and desktop…got a new one as I was comin to Uni. also got a macbook pro and due to uni. firewall & stuff I hear the phone ringing but I have no audio…my audio works fine otherwise so now I have the daunting task of opening firewalls everyday to see which one will work for me HELP!!!

this is not fun…any1 else had this problem that solved it I;d like to know which firewall should be opened exactly going through these can take forever as I have a limit of 20 per day. So everyday I have to try making calls to see if I get through…skype has somewhat saved my sanity for now but I need to call the US that is why I have this MagicJack and right now the magic is not here!!!

Christmas Tree Costume Said,

November 11th, 2009 @1:45 pm

Is magic Jack still allowing $20 calls to the US per year????? It sounds perfect! Im currently using Skype but that costs me about $10/month!

Nerisa Eric Said,

November 13th, 2009 @10:02 pm

interesting article with informative

bc Said,

December 17th, 2009 @6:08 am

Have been using the magicjack for a couple of months. I took my Mac laptop home to help a neighbor install his router and set up a firewall, not my magicjack does not work anymore.

could use a little mac advice to get it working again.

DAMMY Said,

December 19th, 2009 @10:19 pm

hey dude! i have a problem im using 3cx for ip pbx telephone system each in our room has a extension number. in router side i configured port forward to the voip server static ip address for port 5060-5082. one of my aunt plug her Magic Jack in one of our pc in our home network, when magic jack in use, and my cousin start to use our ip pbx home server in the same time, the magic jack starts to malfunction the other line can’t hear our voice but we can hear them. the voip home server is not affected cause its only using our network not the internet. do you have any idea about this on whats going on our network? im asking you cause i feel that your so knowledgeable about network portocols.

Moushie Said,

January 20th, 2010 @11:38 am

Hmmm… I’m not so sure on that one, the only way I can think of why that will happen is because of UPNP wherein ports can be automatically assigned and taken over. I have also experienced those in 3CX here in the office and all we had to do was restart the server. I am yet to find out what is causing that problem.

4fx Said,

May 11th, 2010 @6:22 am

Your article was quite helpful, although my skills are not in this area, the information stimulates enough to try and learn something other than the foolish chit chat one must wade through. Don’t who’s worse; the MJ ‘techs’ or the magpies…
my jack has performed in all departments except getting the phone to do what it is supposed to. From your read, I now suspect; the real problems may be due to the ports. On my Win7 64, I can open the firewall and also enter the Router although both - scare the heck out me (like dancing on a razor blade) as does regedit but; I definitely want this gadget to work.
My router is an Actiontec M1424-WR Rev. C (Firmware4.0.16.1.56.010.11.6)
My trial of Kaspersky Internet Suite is about up and I will pull it for a more robust, tighter AV and just use the Win Firewall for now. I just do not understand that much about the ports in both firewall and router although I did peek around and realize they are there - available for me to screw up. Would like to get some advice/guidance on how to safely go about assuring the 5060,5070 are set up correctly. Would this be asking too much of you?

Moushie Said,

May 11th, 2010 @9:59 pm

I’m sorry but I can’t help you I don’t know what router that is but as what you said you opened the ports and drop the firewall down it should work.

Have you tried running the application as an Administrator since you are using Windows 7?

majicjak Said,

May 20th, 2010 @3:15 am

WRT54gl router updated firmware from 4.30.13 to 4.30.14 and it seems to work.

As a secondary measure I port forwarded TCP ports 5060 and 5070 to the ip address of the machine the majic jack was connected to. Not user if this made a difference or not.

You might try this. It worked for me.

Lawrence Said,

May 22nd, 2010 @11:39 am

Just got two Magic Jacks tonight (one for us and one for a lady to give her son to use in Iraq). Had some difficulty with the ports and contacted Magic Jack tech support chat. Opened UDP ports 5060 through 5070 and I was fine.

You may need to open the ports in your router (log into your router’s admin screen using your web browser), or in Windows Firewall and/or possibly in your anti-virus program.

The product seems to work well. I’m glad it does because I bought the promotional five year extension for $69.99 ($12.00 per year for five years!).

The sounds is as good as a regular phone, and I only have 768k DSL. It’s really like having a second phone line with its own phone number, voice mail, caller ID, three-way calling, etc… We ordered an extensible cordless base station with three handsets to use with Magic Jack. If all goes as we hope we’re changing our land line service to POTS (plain old telephone service).

You can make calls from your PC without a phone, which is good as I prefer not to take a telephone hand set with me on the road. All in all, it’s a very cool product.

I do hope that they clean up the user interface on the application so it’s easier to use and doesn’t pop up every time a call is made and they lose the banner ads. It would also be good if they had *telephone* technical support, which seems like something you would expect given the nature of the product, eh?

But this is a nice deal for the price. Send one to a service member to use overseas at the Internet cafe!

bamajr Said,

June 7th, 2010 @8:05 am

I know there are some issues using MagicJack with Google Voice. I spent quite a while trying to get them to work together myself.

However, I think I may have found a solution or work-a-round, for the verification process at least!

Read http://www.sapphiresolutionsltd.com/blog/2010/06/06/cannot-verify-a-magicjack-telephone-number-in-google-voice/

Let me know how it works for you.

Jesse Said,

August 1st, 2010 @4:21 am

Thank you for this! Really helped me out alot

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