Magicjack takes on the cell phone companies.

[PeteTheFarmer]

MagicJack has introduced a device that allow users to make free cell phones calls from in an around their homes provided they have a broadband Internet connection. The device is communicates with the cell phone and routes the call to the Internet, avoiding cell towers entirely. Password protection is provided to keep unauthorized users from accessing the device.

The device uses cell phone frequency licensed to some of the major carriers, but MagicJack claims their device is legal because the licenses don't extend into individual homes. No comment yet from cell phone carriers.

Interesting technology, and an even more interesting legal battle coming up.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=9511411

 

[daves87rs]

Should be really interesting...

 

[Scienceman]

The question is.......is it legal???

 

[dwendt44]

VOIP has been around for some time; years anyway.
MagicJack is a logical extension of that.
If it were illegal in anyway, you can bet the farm that the phone carriers would be in court the next day trying to stop it.

 

[Cutehumor]

I read an article I think in PC world last month about ATT cell phone cut throat business. their landline business has gone in the toilet since everyone is dropping their landlines for cellphones or going to VOIP phone service. I do remember ATT CEO talking about cell phones and the data plan being a burden for the company. The CEO thought that one day, the cell phone calls would be going through the WIFI on the phone instead of the cell towers in the future. is the magic jack thing similar?

 

[JustinH]

Legal or not, what are they going to do? You have basically another network setup inside your own home.

MagicJack is a pretty crummy VOIP company. Skype does it better, other companies do it better as well.

MagicJack throws ads all over your computer when you run their software, and there are companies that charge way less for services.

They are becoming a household name by partnering with big stores, and selling direct to retail.

Remember when Vonage was big? People thought they were getting such a great deal for 30 per month. Vonage is super overpriced!

I have been using Google Voice, and Gizmo5 to make free VOIP phone calls for the past year. I use a 9 dollar plastic USB "telephone".

http://thinkcheaply.blogspot.com/2009/06/google-voice-gizmo-free-calls-and-free.html

I could spend 30 dollars and get a cordless VOIP phone, and have the same thing basically as what they are doing here. They are basically just using the cell phone as a handset. It isn't much different than just using a cordless phone. You have to be within WIFI range, usually in your house or right out on the porch.

Heck, you can even buy a VOIP dongle, and plug in a regular home phone into the computer, and make VOIP calls.

POTS telephone is dead in the water. The only people buying it are the non-tech savvy, or those who think that they need to have a regular phone in case of emergency. Isn't that what a cell phone is for?

Cable TV will be dead in the water in 5 years. Once a decent IPTV comes along, people won't pay 70 per month for what essentially is "DATA" being sent to a screen.

When more people start getting fiber direct to the home, it will get the ball rolling.

 

[mechtech2]

You can't simply have an internet connection, you need a good one - not a dial up.
But MJ is talked about favorably in this month's Consumer's Digest.
If someone makes a lot of calls, esp long distance, it is most certainly going to save them money over a land line.

 

[tomcat27]

most of the time VOIP works well; but our local ISP has been sued for messing with the Vonage packets - we frequently had problems with it - and Vonage is a bunch of thieves when its time to cancel. I would rather have no phone than Vonage. Our Comcast digital phone was also riddled with problems for months. our ATT Uverse VOIP has been fine. we also have alot of problems at work with VOIP phones that people run thru their laptops - to the point that we consider them "unsupported" for use at home. (they are miserable over home wireless, and the USB drivers and microphone settings cause headzches with other devices.) on a conference call yesterday, none of the people running VOIP thru their laptops could be heard.

 

[mormit]

I like Skype!

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
most of the time VOIP works well; but our local ISP has been sued for messing with the Vonage packets - we frequently had problems with it - and Vonage is a bunch of thieves when its time to cancel. I would rather have no phone than Vonage. Our Comcast digital phone was also riddled with problems for months. our ATT Uverse VOIP has been fine. we also have alot of problems at work with VOIP phones that people run thru their laptops - to the point that we consider them "unsupported" for use at home. (they are miserable over home wireless, and the USB drivers and microphone settings cause headzches with other devices.) on a conference call yesterday, none of the people running VOIP thru their laptops could be heard.


our IT folks couldn't figure out why I was dropped off my VPN connection every hour. it turned out that having the VOIP phone router was kicking me off. took that off, my vpn connections has been fine ever since.

 

[wander2039]

Interesting.. we have vonage for our regular phone and skype for video calls. While Vonage might be more costly it frees up the pc and easier for the less tech savy. We've had a few problems but with a firmware update and faster internet can't say it's a bad service, we had RR Lite which was compounding a line problem. IPTV is already here if you chose to. Netflix has alot of programming online and most news outlets have footage online.

 

[Cutehumor]

Just checked, no signs ups for Gizmo5, they were bought out by google. I have a google voice account though.

 

[andyd]

A POTS line is good main alarm connection with a cellular back up. Anything else is a PITA .

 

[severach]

Security alarms should stop using POTS faster than cell phone users. I'd prefer my alarm use a secure connection to the head office that is testable to ensure that it hasn't gone down. Cut my line and I'd like to hear alarm bells.

 

[SecondMonkey]

Or you could just use a better service like Skype and a $20 cordless phone. How much is MJ going to charge for that thing? It's not going to be cheap if it broadcasts those frequencies and does what it claims.

 

[SecondMonkey]

Seems like I remember something from T-mobile recently about cheaper home service through your cell phone using WIFI, you had to buy the special phone and router from them of course.

Honestly with my sprint phone (and internet) I can make unlimited Skype calls already...though I never use more than a few hundred minutes a month...

 

[JustinH]

Another comment, is due to competition, we might be seeing unlimited cell plans going more mainstream, and getting cheaper.

If they get cheap enough, I'll just use the cell phone 100 percent..

Tmobile, Virgin and a couple others are offering somewhat cheap unlimited phone cell plans right now.

 

[Cutehumor]

If anyone is interested. I just picked up a $19.97 verizon samsung smooth prepaid phone from walmart. verizon sells it online for $50. This phone comes with VZ GPS navigator and bluetooth. Phone comes with free $10 airtime. From 1-8 to 1-11, Verizon is allowing free activation on their phones including prepaid. Activation is usually $25. I just activated it online for free and I selected the plus plan. $1.99/day. free unlimited calling to verizon wireless phones, unlimited night/weekend plan, and 5 cents/minute, 5 cents/text message. Just spent an hour talking to my dad in Memphis with this phone. I already set up google voice number to link up with this phone. Pretty good deal.

 

[FADEC]

Don't really understand the concept of this. I have an unlimited minutes cell phone plan for $39.95 a month. How would this benifit me??

 

[Vikas]

If you are home and you do have other capability to make calls, why do you need to use your cell phone minutes?

> $1.99/day. free unlimited calling to verizon wireless phones, unlimited night/weekend plan, and 5 cents/minute, 5 cents/text message. Just spent an hour talking to my dad in Memphis with this phone.


Wow, so cheap!! Only $62.00 for Month of January plus measly 5cents/minute and 5cents/text!!!

Sorry for being so sarcastic, but you need to explain why you think you are getting a deal.

- Vikas