This blog is a way for me to share hard learned lessons about money with those who are just starting out on their own. I hope it's a way for you to avoid making the mistakes I made, and to benefit from my experiences

Thursday, August 30, 2007

$39.99 per year for telephone?

How would you like to spend $39.99 per year for telephone service. That's it. How can that be you ask? There's a new company out there called Magic Jack.

Here's how it works. You buy this little doohickey that plugs into the USB port of your computer, and then you plug your regular old telephone into the doohickey. Presto, you've got a telephone. The company gives you a telephone number, and you can call and receive just like normal using your telephone. There are no long distance charges for anywhere you call the USA and Canada. No monthly land line charges. You can even take your phone with you when you travel. Connect your laptop to the hotel wi-fi, or any hotspot, plug in the magic jack and a small telephone, and you've got your home phone with you wherever you go. You even get free voice mail.

Here's the part I don't like. You have to have an always on broadband connection, and you must leave your computer on all the time, and hope it doesn't crash. Still, it's an interesting new development.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whatif your PC crashes? I have an old tired RAM-challenged PC which crashes a lot under intensive use.

8/30/2007 3:20 PM

 
Blogger Kevin said...

Yup. If your computer crashes your screwed. Same if your internet service or modem goes down as well.

8/30/2007 4:43 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SkypeIn and SkypeOut is around $68 a year and provides pretty much this same thing.

I know that it's nearly twice as expensive, but Skype is owned by Ebay, so you know it will be around for a long time. You can also call other Skype members, which is nice.

8/31/2007 11:41 AM

 

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