Make Free Cell Phone Calls With…MagicJack?

Do you have poor cell phone reception in your home? You could pay your carrier $150, then $20 per month for a mini cell tower, or femtocell, that lets you make calls using the magic of the Internet. Or you could pay a tiny fraction of that amount for MagicJack’s version of a femtocell.

Announced this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the device works similarly to the standard MagicJack–except instead of plugging a landline phone in, users can make calls using a GSM cellphone within range of the device–without using any of their mobile plan minutes.

Unfortunately, this product wouldn’t solve the woes of current AT&T customers in areas suffering from iPhone congestion: as far as we can determine, it would not prevent inbound dropped calls, and mobile data service would not be available. The device allows users to make voice calls only.

The device will be priced similarly to the MagicJack currently on the market, but has not yet been approved by the FCC.

MagicJack Harnesses Femtocell for VoIP [PCWorld]

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Consumer Reports Science Shows Magic Jack Is Actually Worthwhile

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