T-Mobile to launch Internet phone service
to compete with Vonage, however MagicJack may kill them
all
T-Mobile
is launching a service that routes home calls over the
Internet. T-Mobile AtHome will cost $10 monthly.
Subscribers need a $40 T-Mobile cell plan. They must
also buy a T-Mobile router for $50.
This compares very favorably to plans from other VOIP
services like Vonage, which runs
$25 per month and covers
the US and Canada.
Then
again you could buy a MagicJack for 40.00 total
including the first year and then 20 bucks a month.
MagicJack is a $40 appliance that's
about the size of two USB memory sticks.
You plug any analog telephone into one
end, and insert the other end into the
USB port of a computer with broadband
access. After waiting about one minute
while the device self-installs, you can
make free calls to any phone in the
United States and Canada (no matter
where in the world you are) — there are
no per-minute charges. After the first
year, you pay $20 annually for these
calls. That's not $20 per month, it's
$20 per year
Doesn't seem possible to us, but then we started
looking into how they do it.
MagicJack differs from companies like Vonage and
Skype, who buy their connection services from telecom
businesses known as Competitive Local Exchange Carriers
(CLECs) while MagicJack's parent company, YMax — founded
by telecom veteran Dan Borislow — is itself a CLEC
that's certified in 49 U.S. states (soon to be 50).
Because the company owns much of its own switching and
gateway hardware, YMax can make money by giving out
phone numbers and leasing the lines it owns to other
VoIP and telecommunications providers.
Is it profitable
enough? It seems pretty hard to scale at 20.00 a
year, but, in addition to sales of the MagicJack
hardware (and the $20 annual fee starting one year
later), MagicJack intends to sell advertising that will
appear next to the on-screen softphone any time you use
the product.
After all is said and
done though at 20.00 a year for unlimited calling, its
hard to not at least give it a try, and if MagicJack can
deliver on its promises, the other VOIP providers like
Vonage, and the one that T-Mobile is offering are going
to be in serious trouble.
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