magicJack's Controversial Femtocell Will Offer Cheap Wireless Phone Service

magicJack has announced a plan to release a small accessory that will act like a small cell tower, letting any GSM phone use their home Internet connection to make phone calls.

The class of devices is called a femtocell. Wireless carriers around the world are starting to offer them to bring their service to homes and offices that currently can't get a good connection to cell towers.

The magicJack femtocell will provide voice service for $20 a year, and will work with any GSM phone.

It will be connected to the user's home network, and calls will be streamed over the Internet.

Legal Problems Ahead?
What makes magicJack's offering controversial is it will use wireless frequencies that have been licensed to other companies, including AT&T and T-Mobile.

Other femtocells are being offered by wireless carriers, and use the spectrum these companies have paid to use. magicJack's will use this same spectrum, without a license fee.

magicJack's Dan Borislow says there will be no problems, because his company's product will only be used in the home, and consumers have the right to control how the wireless spectrum inside their own house is used.

Source: magicJack