GSM Archive

FemtoJack Coming Soon: Ymax CEO Officially Announces Femto Jack Plans

By
FemtoJack Mack
Published: January 11, 2010Posted in: FemtoJack
FemtoJack Coming Soon: Ymax CEO Officially Announces Femto Jack Plans

Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Ymax CEO Dan Barislow officially announced the companies plans to come out with a femtocell product. This new product is basically an enhanced version of it’s current and very popular magic Jack phone service. Currently the magic Jack provides users with unlimited local and long distance calling to the United States and Canada for a one time fee of $39.95 and then a cost of $19.95 per year thereafter. Ymax’s new product, which has been tabbed the ‘femtoJack‘, is expected to be released within the next 3-6 months and provide users with the same usage package at roughly the same price.

The main different between the femtoJack and magic Jack is that the femtoJack uses femtocell technology, which means it links up with your cell phone rather than a regular telephone. Through the use of a small 3G radio signal the femtoJack will allow users to get unlimited minutes through their cell phone, no wires required. All the user has to do is insert the femtoJack into their USB port, do a quick installation, and bring their cell phone within 8 feet of the femtoJack once. The femtoJack automatically syncs with your cell phone when you bring it within 8 feet and then you can roam around your home all you want and talk for free. Just stay within 3000 sq. ft. of your femtoJack because that’s it’s range limit.

To top all of this off rumor has it that you do not need a service plan of any kinda with a cell carrier. All you need is a GSM phone and the femto Jack. If you really think about it the femtoJack and your cell phone service are 100% completely separate of each other. The only common denominator is that they both use a cell phone as their operating device. So even for those that don’t have a cell plan, they can get a cheap GSM phone and the femtoJack and have unlimited wireless phone service through a cell phone whenever they are at home.

Now the only question that remains is whether Ymax and cell carriers can come to an agreement that allows for seamless hand off when someone linked up to a femtoJack leaves their home and goes out of it’s range while in the middle of a phone call.

What Is The FemtoJack? – A Quick Look At Ymax’s Femtocell

By
FemtoJack Mack
Published: October 16, 2009Posted in: FemtoJack
What Is The FemtoJack? – A Quick Look At Ymax’s Femtocell

Ymax Corporation, the company behind the magic Jack, will soon be unveiling a new product tagged the femtoJack. Although there has been no official announcement from the company our sources say that  it will be announced during the first quarter of 2010. Our sources even mention magic Jack CEO Dan Barislow speaking about the product on several occasions without giving it a name while a representative from its sister company Stratus Communications has actually referred to it as the femtoJack.

So what is the femtoJack you might ask? Well, the femtoJack is a small USB device that is used to make calls from your home over a VoIP network. Sounds just like the magic Jack doesn’t it? Well it is just like the magic Jack but there is one catch. Instead of using a traditional phone with the femtoJack you will use your cell phone and you will use it wirelessly. Yep, that’s right. A USB device that gives you unlimited VoIP minutes while in range of it no wires, phone jacks, or cords required.

The femto Jack is expected to  look just like the magic Jack (only slightly bigger) and be very cheap (equal to or only slightly more expensive than magic Jack). Like it’s predecessor the magic Jack, it is expected to come with unlimited local and long distance calling to anywhere in the U.S. or Canada for one small yearly fee.

The technology behind the femtoJack is simple. It uses femtocell technology which means that it uses radio frequencies to transmit your call wirelessly through your broadband Internet connection, across magic Jack’s dedicated VoIP network and eventually to the person you are making the call to.

One of the added benefits of the femtoJack is it’s ability to work as a cell phone signal booster. If you are unable to get cell phone service within your home all you have to do is setup the femtoJack and you will instantly have your own mini cellular tower if you will. Now, technically speaking it won’t be a cell tower but it will serve nearly the same purpose. With the femtoJack you don’t need to have an actual cell phone signal, just a cell phone. It is unclear at this point but we believe than a cell phone that isn’t activate with a cell carrier will even be able to be used with the femto Jack. Early reports also indicate that the femtoJack will be powerful enough that you will be able to get service from anywhere in your own home, of course that’s assuming you don’t have a 5000 sq. ft. home.

It is believed that the femtoJack will work with nearly all carriers at some point but at first it is expected to work exclusively for GSM standard phones which include anything from AT&T or T-Mobile. The only question that remains is whether it is legal for the femtoJack to use the wireless spectrum that mobile carriers have paid billions to possess. Early indications point to it being okay since wireless spectrum licenses don’t extend into the home.