A Jack That Lets Regular Phones Take Advantage of Those Cheap Internet Long-Distance Rates

John Biggs reports that computer-based phone services like Skype allow you to call friends and family free — as long as they have a PC with a sound card and a microphone. A little device called MagicJack will let you make calls from your phone to other phones in the United States for fractions of a penny a minute.

The device costs $39.95, a price that includes a year of unlimited domestic calls; additional years cost $20. MagicJack, which looks like a U.S.B. memory stick, plugs right into your Windows PC, which immediately displays a telephone keypad. (A Mac version is planned.) Each MagicJack is assigned its own phone number, and the price includes voice mail and call waiting. You can also use the MagicJack overseas to reach numbers in the United States and receive calls from there.

These Internet calling devices aren’t exactly new. The MagicJack, however, has a real telephone jack on the side, letting you quickly bring almost any corded or cordless phone into the 21st century.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/circuits/04jack.html?em&ex=1191643200&en=51c130fc67a3f888&ei=5087%0A