Consumer

3 On Your Side: MagicJack

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― If you make a lot of phone calls from your home phone, you know the monthly bill can add up fast.  So how would you like to eliminate your local and long distance bills?  That's right, never get another monthly phone bill again.  3 On Your Side's Jim Donovan shows you how.

Is the cost of your monthly phone bill enough to make your head spin and your ears ring?

It was for Mel Nasielski.  His daughter Katharine attends Northwestern University in Chicago and they talk about once a day.

Mel's long distance calls were costing around $25 a month.  Now they're free!  "I can save $300 or so a year and potentially much more," he said.

How?  With a little magic, MagicJack that is.  It's a small device that allows you to call anywhere in the United States and Canada and never get a bill.   

Simply plug MagicJack into the USB port of your computer, then plug any landline phone into MagicJack and make calls like you normally would.  All you need is a computer with a broadband connection.  

"It's plug and play," said Dan Borislow, a Philadelphia native and inventor of MagicJack.  "The jack is $40 and that includes your first year of free local and long distance and then it's $20 a year thereafter," Borislow said.

That's all you pay, there are no monthly phone bills.  And because you talk on your phone, not through your computer like some other Internet based phone services, Mel says the sound quality has been great.  "It's clear, there are no delays, it's terrific," he said.

And Katharine likes the fact that she doesn't have to use up her cell phone minutes.  "Before we had to wait around until after 9 to use our free minutes," she said.

MagicJack includes features like call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail and enhanced 911 service at no additional cost.

Based on her Dad's experience, Katharine can't wait to get one for herself and use it with friends.  "The idea that I would get to talk to them on a regular basis is really nice," she said.

Even local schools are jumping on the MagicJack band wagon.  Widener University in Delaware County gave them to all of its freshman students this year.

Right now, the device works with a PC but beginning December 1, it will be compatible with a Mac.   

You can still use your computer while talking on the phone with the MagicJack, it will not affect the way you use your computer.

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