MagicJack 'femtojack' uses mobile phones to make VoIP calls

The people behind MagicJack, a plug-and-play VoIP device, have recognized the trend of consumers cutting their traditional landline voice connections like much of the telecom industry and have updated their offering to reflect that. MagicJack's original offering was a USB device that came with a phone jack--plug your regular landline phone into the MagicJack, plug that into your computer USB port and make cheap VoIP calls. At CES, MagicJack revealed its 'femtojack' device featuring a small femtocell (think personal cell phone tower of sorts) that plugs into a users PC and allows users to make VoIP calls over their computer using their cell phones wirelessly.

The device apparently uses wireless spectrum to connect the phones to the USB device, but because wireless spectrum is not owned inside people's homes, MagicJack can slip through the legal loophole and use the spectrum. I wonder what the legality of using this at the coffee shop or in your hotel room is?

Back in June, MagicJack's CEO Dan Borislow forecasted that the company would release a femtocell-based VoIP product and this CES announcement has made good on that promise. He promised explosive growth for the company with this new product. "If we move enough femtos out, I could mesh together 10 million end points into a WiFi network," Borislow said in an interview when he first mentioned their femtocell product.

For more:
- read this article [1]

Related articles
MagicJack CEO: Femtocell offering by Q1 2010
[2]Analyst: MagicJack causing landline loss
[3]MagicJack mystique
[4]MagicJack settles with Florida AG [5] [2]