Make free cell phone calls through Magic Jack

By Jimmy Downs

The company that sells Magic Jack, which allows users to make phone calls through the internet, now has something new to offer to consumers.

A new version of Magic Jack, which costs $40, will go to the market in next four months. The device allows users to make phone calls from their cell phones without having to pay any fee to the cell phone carrier.

Like the current version of Magic Jack, phone calls do not go through any landline or any wireless carrier's connection.  Because of this, users can call others in the United States and Canada without paying anything to cell phone companies.

The Magic Jack will work on the cell phones that subscribe to the services provided by AT&T Inc. and T-mobile USA which use the GSM standard, but not Version Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp which do not connect to Magic Jack.

U.S. wireless carriers have been selling devices called femtocells similar to the wireless Magic Jack.  Femtocells use the carrier's licensed spectrum just like Magic Jack to connect a phone call and route the call to a home broadband internet connection like cable or DSL connections.  But these are more complex devices compared to Magic Jack.

CEO Dan Borislow, YMAX, the manufacturer based out of Palm Beach, Florida was cited as saying that the new electronic instrument is legal.  The federal Trade Commission and wireless carriers have not responded to the news released this week at the International Consumers Electronics Show.