MagicJack for Cell Phones Expected Soon: Should You Be Excited?

YMax Corporation, the company responsible for MagicJack, is planning to release a MagicJack for cell phones. The new product was previewed at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The cell phone MagicJack is tentatively scheduled to be available for purchase in four months. Should consumers be excited about this upcoming product release?

According to the MagicJack press release, the new cell phone "MagicJack's femtocell technology technology enables your cell phone or smart phone to connect through our Voice Network, instead of your carrier network."

The MagicJack for cell phones won't cost customers any of their airtime. Even international calls will be routed through their MagicJack account. The MagicJack for cell phones unit will cost the same as the land line unit, priced at $39.99. After the first year, service will cost $20 annually.

The catch to all this? The cell phone MagicJack is designed to work in the home. The user should connect to their MagicJack device by bringing a cell phone within eight feet of it. They then register the connection on their cell phone, by typing in a code. Your cell phone should be able to work through the MagicJack, within a 3,000 square foot house. This doesn't do you much good on a road trip, 500 miles away from home.

The upside to this is that you will be able to connect through other femtocell MagicJacks, by simply registering the device. Of course this perk will only come in handy if the cell phone MagicJack idea takes off. Otherwise, you won't have many devices to connect to. It should also bring into question the politeness of asking your host if you can connect to their service.

MagicJack also claims that the cell phone service will "work with mobile phones from potentially any carrier."

Potentially. Which means that it also might not work with your carrier. The Canadian Press reports that a demonstration at the 2010 CES proved that incoming and outgoing cell phone calls through the MagicJack worked with T-Mobile. Most Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel cell phones would not connect.

As a current happy MagicJack user, I am having trouble seeing the need to purchase the cell phone version. I can already place calls for free in my home and the new cell phone MagicJack does not support my cellular provider.

I could see the point of buying this product, if I didn't already own a MagicJack. That is largely due to both the land line and cell phone versions retailing for the same price. Might as well have the newest version. Maybe the future will bring a MagicJack that enables free cell phone usage while on the go. Until then, there might not be that much to get excited about.

Sources:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100107006200&newsLang=en

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iVJAWp2WTjEYUHNGV8v2KY3JxlVQ