Before companies like Magic Jack and Vonage we were slaves to the traditional land based phone systems. Big phone companies like AT&T and SBC (just to mention a couple) had us at a disadvantage and they knew it. With traditional land lines, every feature had a fee, even keeping certain features off you phone cost money. After adding up all those fees, along with your local and long distance, your phone service could cost $40.00, $50.00, $70.00 a month or much more depending of what features you tacked on and how many long distance calls you make a month.

Well I’m probably not telling you anything you didn’t already know. So how about something you may not know about – VoIP and companies like Magic Jack, Vonage and Skype are paving the way for this money saving communications technology. VoIP like Magic Jack and Vonage is finding their way into homes, not only here in the US, but around the world.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) – allows and analog signal from your phone to be converted into a digital signal that can be then be sent over the internet (much like a email) instead of over a wire network like the ordinary land line. This allows the user to make long distance phone calls for free or at a much cheaper price depending on the service used. Vonage is a pioneer and one of the most popular of this new telephony technology.

There is now a small host of companies offering VoIP services that will continue to grow as (VoIP) is the future of communications. Magic Jack is such a company and is growing in popularity as more and more people are becoming aware of this new technology. Magic Jack is the only service that has its own network system which is one of the most compelling reasons the service is so inexpensive.

While other VoIP companies are offering good products for reasonable prices, none can beat the price or can offer the simplicity and the flexibility of Magic Jack. The Magic Jack device plugs directly into an available USB port (2.0 or higher) the software in the device makes contact with the Magic Jack home base and after only a few minutes it takes to set up your account and phone number, you are ready to go. You can then take your phone that had been plugged into the land line wall mount and plug it directly into the Magicjack, lift the receiver, hear a dial tone and start making calls.

Companies like Vonage must pay for the network they use, so it comes with a low monthly bill. Magic Jack has one low price you pay annually which is less then one month’s bill of a traditional land line. Magic Jack will let you opt in for a multi year agreement that saves you even more money. Skype is another popular VoIP company that is much better then the traditional landline but has limitations such as phone calls are only free if you are calling other Skype users and must purchase credits in order to call someone using phone services other than Skype. This would kind of be like buying minutes for cell phones.

Magic Jack is not a phone or software installed on your computer; it is a device with the software installed in it that plugs into your computer or any other computer with a broadband internet connection. This means you can take the Magic Jack with you on long trips or even out of the country and make free long distance phone calls back to the US or Canada for free. How’s that for flexibility?

By: Tim Wedin