MagicJack's femtocell misses its launch date, still hasn't been submitted to the FCC for approval
By Donald Melanson 
posted July 25th 2010 6:04AM
posted July 25th 2010 6:04AM
posted July 25th 2010 6:04AM
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Can't wait to see how the haters make this about the iPhone 4 somehow.
@Salt show I'll take a whack it that - so far, no one has called for the Magic Jack femtocell to be recalled.
j/k
@Salt show
You know, you just gave them a reason to start mentioning the iPhone 4. So if this post turns into an iPhone/ android flamewar, it's your fault.
@Salt show
They both are magical
@Salt show I bet this will ship before the white iPhone 4!
@Salt show
This took the Apple design even further...you don't hold it at all.
@Mustangsamjr
Please nerds. You're generally not funny people. Stop trying so hard.
@Salt show
No, not really,,, it has no antenna :-!
@suicidebob 1. I not joking 2. Only nerds and jerks troll. 3.If by nerd you meant anti apple, I'm using a [black] iPhone 4 as I type.
What's the difference between this and the normal magicjack?
@Lethallax
This has more magic.
@Lethallax instead of possibly posting false info
I'll copy pasta.
from the gub'mint, sublicensing it from carriers, or just going rogue? Going rogue. Historically, this usually ends in an FCC-mandated shutdown -- and since both carriers and the CTIA will undoubtedly be throwing a fit that some company is stealing pricey spectrum for its own purposes, we're sure the pressure on the government to act will be quite high.
Are any carriers in on this, and if so, why? Nope, none. The company says that "if they were smart they would take [it] on as a partner, because all [it] could do is enhance the value they create for their customer," but presently, MagicJack's all alone.
If carriers aren't involved, why would they establish roaming deals that would allow carrier-branded phones and SIMs to roam on MagicJack's rogue airwaves? As far as we can tell, they aren't on any roaming deals.
If they're not working on roaming deals, the femtocells will need to spoof a carrier ID. Furthermore, TDMA femtocells are virtually impossible to design and install for technical reasons, which means these would have to be 3G. So MagicJack's going to offer a UMTS femtocell? It appears to be a plain-Jane GSM femtocell, which is technically interesting considering what we've heard in the past about effectively making a TDMA unit that plays nice with the surrounding network. Considering everything else we know, though, it probably doesn't play nice -- and without a roaming deal in place, they'll need to spoof. That's going to rile up both carriers and the GSMA.
Do you get to keep your phone number when you roam on the MagicFemtocell, and if so, how? For incoming calls, probably not, unless you forward to the MagicJack number.
People actually use the magic jack?
@JDGAFFLIN
Aside from the dumb marketing. Shit customer service and other things. This thing actually works as advertised. It's great when your at a hotel with no reception and they have WiFi. Plug in their phone and you have unlimited calling. Even works on a crap internet connection
@JDGAFFLIN
I recall using it as a fax number to. Cheaper than receiving them at office depot
@DefPoet
Thanks for the replies. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic. I just don't know anyone that used this product/service.
@JDGAFFLIN Yep, at my job (I basically am a bill collector) I call about 2-3 people with Magic Jacks a week. Usually their phones are disconnected, showing that they can't even pay off cheap phone bills.
Word. I use it for conference calls for work. I have it in my network and its great for what I need.
@JDGAFFLIN
It's great for overseas telephony. I have 2 lines registered with US numbers and shipped the little USB thing to India. I can now call my relatives 24/7 for just $20 a year, and they pay nothing.
@JDGAFFLIN I have 2 of them. However, Im pissed off that they wont support faxing. Thats the whole reason I bought the 2nd one. Really cool thing about them.....We went to Hawaii and I brought the laptop and the Magicjack. Free home phone in Hawaii.
I recall their commercials.
Anybody cares to explain what's the point of the MagicJack? For the life of me I can't see it. Relying on a computer to make phone calls seems plain silly to me. If I have to boot up my computer to make a phone call, then I might as well use Skype. I'm guessing MagicJack's rates are cheaper? In that case, can one use MagicJack's service with a regular VoIP ATA?
@Mr Blurrycam Not to mention that it hardwires spyware into your registry
@Mr Blurrycam
Very good uses for relatives or friends that live overseas. They can get a phone number in any calling area in the US and most of Canada meaning that they can be reached with a local number rather than calling an overseas long distance number. They can call anyone in NA for virtually free ($20/year).
@SilentStryk09 That's a bunch of crap (do you even own Magic Jack?). The report about spyware that you are referring to is some obscure reference in the EULA that has language that, is not a lot different from what other software says, and has been misinterpreted. I've been using Magic Jack for almost five years, and I can guarantee that Magic Jack does nothing more to your registry than anything other software you install. Magic Jack's software goes to the internet for ads that only show up in the user interface.
MagicJack service is nice but they are probably the shadiest company ever. That's going to hurt them in the long run, especially if they are going to try to make a femtocell without carrier support (and thus, without legality). Did they ever consider just writing an Android app? I'm pretty sure VoIP apps work on Android now.
@kmeisthax
You're right, It's just about time to take magic jackoff the list of great communication innovators.
Um okay, I'm going to go back SIP on my margarita.
bummers on the wait time
This thing is as dead as Billy Mays (was it too soon?),
ROFLMAO! This is SO not going to happen! Mr. Magic Jack will soon find out that YES billion dollar spectrum licenses ARE applicable in the home and no amount of slick lawyering will change that! Nice try though ;^p...
PS I have an idea. Why not just make a bluetooth gateway? Its wireless, fairly common on almost all cellphones and no spectrum encroachment. Nice right? I know. Oh and feel free to split the royalties from this with me and Donnie Melanson. Sayin...
Advantages of MagicJack? How about free calling to Canada. My daughter lives in Canada and I have my magicJack forwarded to her phone number. All her friends here call mjack's local number and they get connected to Canada right after the first ring. She can pick up voicemail when necessary.
I still call Canada free using my Android cellphone via GoogleVoice though. There was a time Grandcentral used to allow auto forwarding to Canadian numbers but that stopped when Google bought them out..
A little "googling" (or actually, "binging") for MagicJack returns a lot of mixed reviews. Apparently when the device works, it's great. When it doesn't work, or you have billing issues, customer service is nearly non-existent. All customer support is via "chat", and there's no phone number listed. (What? No Phone numbers? Don't even use your own service?)
I have to say I'd be a little apprehensive to deal with MJ after reading some of the complaints, as well as some of the owners responses to the complaints and some background info on Borislow himself.
@JackInLA
That about covers the MJ support.
I don't care about crappy support if you never need to use it. So far, that's Ooma for me - been problem free for 4 months now.
I had MJ for 2 years. Occasional dropped calls / echo / etc...even on a highly tuned network and the MJ on a dedicated server with QoS priority. And a whole weekend twice where it didn't work and CS was clueless...magically worked on Monday...I bet someone rebooted a server when they came in Monday morning.
Ooma has been pretty much flawless in contrast, and no screwing with WinXP.
MagicJack combined with google voice results in very cheap, and higly functional phone service. Essentially a cheap local phone number that you can forward to your google voice number and get instant VM from ppl whom you don't want to talk to. Like said bill collector.
Oh probably the best reason to get this $20 per year service. If you travel outside the US just bring your mjack with you and make calls to US and Canada free wherever you have internet connection
I tried a MagicJack. It worked. But when problems cropped up, the company showed their backside. NO customer service, or an address, or a phone number. You can ONLY "chat" with "customer support", and trust me, they are NOT in the USA. The only thing they know how to say is "no, can't, no,". HORRIBLE company. If you chose to buy their product, USE A CREDIT CARD, and do not buy the extended (more than one year) service. When the magicjack breaks, you'll be on your own. They don't care. If you currently have problems with magicjack, DISPUTE THE CHARGE with your credit card company. They know full well how deceptive magicjack is, and will issue an immediate credit. STAY AWAY FROM MAGICJACK. There is a reason they won't give you a phone number, an address, a name, etc. DECEPTION.
And by the way, the only way to stop them from charging and charging on your credit card is to get a new account number.
Google them, and you'll quickly see how they SCAM people and their credit cards. Just stay away.
Majic Jack appears to be a PONZI. How can a company ignore the costs associated with completing calls to land line phones? What am I missing?