[Evermore707]

Magicjack also installs some low key spyware and is purported to send info to google about your habits.

[skyline247]

And they say it is completely legal. I am going to get one if they ever come to market.

[infamyx]

Courtesy of Engadget

Despite MagicJack's official announcement last week of an in-home femtocell for connecting carriers' phones directly to its service, tons of questions remain -- including most of the questions we had when we first heard of the idea. Let's recap those questions and where we stand with each of them, shall we?

Are these guys licensing spectrum from the gub'mint (government), sublicensing it from carriers, or just going rogue? Going rogue. Historically, this usually ends in an FCC-mandated shutdown -- and since both carriers and the CTIA will undoubtedly be throwing a fit that some company is stealing pricey spectrum for its own purposes, we're sure the pressure on the government to act will be quite high.

Are any carriers in on this, and if so, why? Nope, none. The company says that "if they were smart they would take [it] on as a partner, because all [it] could do is enhance the value they create for their customer," but presently, MagicJack's all alone.

If carriers aren't involved, why would they establish roaming deals that would allow carrier-branded phones and SIMs to roam on MagicJack's rogue airwaves? As far as we can tell, they aren't on any roaming deals.
If they're not working on roaming deals, the femtocells will need to spoof a carrier ID. Furthermore, TDMA femtocells are virtually impossible to design and install for technical reasons, which means these would have to be 3G.

So MagicJack's going to offer a UMTS femtocell? It appears to be a plain-Jane GSM femtocell, which is technically interesting considering what we've heard in the past about effectively making a TDMA unit that plays nice with the surrounding network. Considering everything else we know, though, it probably doesn't play nice -- and without a roaming deal in place, they'll need to spoof. That's going to rile up both carriers and the GSMA.

Do you get to keep your phone number when you roam on the MagicFemtocell, and if so, how? For incoming calls, probably not, unless you forward to the MagicJack number.

Needless to say, both the carriers and the feds are going to have a lot to say about this product -- particularly considering that it hasn't even received FCC approval yet. If it keeps marching toward retail, we could be gearing up for one of the most entertaining legal battles of the year.

[avt123]

According to most of the information I have seen on this subject, they will be stealing spectrum and the FCC will shut them down. If they are going this route this is not legit and very ****** up.

Would it be nice to have? Yes.

Will carriers and the FCC let them steal their spectrum? H*ll no.

[TheScionicMan]

Borislow said the device is legal because wireless spectrum licenses don't extend into the home.

I wonder if this is akin to using an FM transmitter like I have for my Sirius Radio. I can run it on the same freq as any FM station, but because of the low power and range, doesn't really affect them. They aren't using the carrier's bandwidth, just using the freqs that GSM phones are able to use and going short-hop from the phone to the femtocell.

Are your neighbors going to complain to the FCC that they are getting minute-less calls?

[drphil1]

I will be very inresting in buying Magicjack's stock. Very nice product.

[drphil1]

You don't need FCC approval for the spectrum, since it covers limited area.