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.
