Almost everyone has heard about the unbelievable new tool that lets you make phone calls over the internet at amazingly low rates - Magic Jack. However, very few of us actually know how the device works. How does it achieve such low rates? How does it let you talk using the phone through the internet? Is the software safe for you PC? Knowledge, as they say, is the most powerful tool - particularly in removing misconceptions and baseless fears from the mind. So read on, and clarify your doubts regarding the wonderful product.<br><br>What is Magic Jack?<br><br>It is a computer peripheral that connects to your PC and lets you make phone calls over the internet. In order to use this device you need to have a broadband internet connection and then plug the device into one of the USB ports of your machine. The technology that it uses to achieve this is a well-established one - known widely as the Voice over IP (VoIP) - that began in the theory of computer engineering way back in 1974.<br><br>What is VoIP and how does Magic Jack use it?<br><br>VoIP, as the name suggests, refers to a class of technologies that use the internet as a medium to convert analog voice data to a digital form and transfer it via packet data. It is, in principle, more than three decades old - thought the actual revolution of mass marketing of VoIP tech as a cheaper alternative to normal phone communication began in 2004. Magic Jack uses such a VoIP procedure to use the internet connection on your PC and then place phone calls through it using the company's landline supplier YMAX.<br><br>How does Magic Jack give such cheap rates? Is there a catch involved?<br><br>Well, the way that Magic Jack can afford to give you such incredibly cheap rates is twofold. First, VoIP itself is a cheaper option when compared to normal telecommunication practices. Thus, any VoIP based device is, on an average, going to cost a lot less, both for the company marketing it, and (thus) also for the consumers. The second reason is, well - marketing. Magic Jack employs a suitable market strategy based on volume rather than profit and has revenue sources using advertising / sponsorship in the devices it hands out - hence it can afford to subsidize the rates for the customer.<br><br>On the surface, there does not seems to be any catch in this - apart from issues relating to the quality of phone audio transmission, and the working of the device - which is nothing unusual and is there in any business product that you might want to dig up. This means that there does not seem to be any deliberate strategy from the part of the manufacturers to sort of squeeze money out of you buy promising cheap rates.<br><br>Thus, in the end, it must be said that Magic Jack is founded on a sound technological base and has the ability to deliver the promises that it makes to its potential customers. A good idea is to talk personally to a Magic Jack customer before you actually buy one for yourself.