One of the ways I use the MagicJack.com device is by sending it overseas to my team in the Philippines. I have virtual assistants in the Philippines who answer phones for clients in the US. In this way, they can initiate or answer calls from the comfort of their own homes. No need to drive or take the bus to the office. Clients who call in don’t even know that they are speaking to someone a world away. And, when the virtual assistants call the US, they are virtually calling for free.

I have MagicJack.com devices that also are essentially “shell” phone numbers. Think of it. For $19 per YEAR, I can have a phone number in practically every city that matters in the United States. Each number can be forwarded to one main number that can be answered by a receptionist. The receptionist, of course, can be anywhere in the world, like the Philippines. This makes your company “bigger” than it really is at a fraction of the cost of a brick and mortar company.

MagicJack.com devices can also be used in a call center type scenario. Imagine buying two, three, five Magic Jack devices. Each of them would be assigned their own unique phone number. Now imagine incorporating a virtual PBX software solution that can aggregate these numbers into one software PBX. In this way, you can make your small company look like a large corporation. The one receptionist can then forward calls to a person mobile number as if transferring them to their “extension.”

Now, I also have my own personal Magic Jack. I give out the phone number of my personal Magic Jack and tell people that this is my mobile number. Why would I do that? This way I don’t have to “give out” my real mobile number, except to my close associates. In this way, when I turn off call forwarding to my mobile, all calls go into voice mail or even call forwarded, again, to my virtual receptionist.

Here’s another example of using a Magic Jack for personal use. I have two daughters, both of which have their own mobile phones and computers. Now, I know not all kids have their own computers and mobile phones, but hey! We all know that the cell phone carriers are pigs. They milk you for every minute that they can. Well, I can give each kid a Magic Jack and a cheap landline phone and voila, I’ve saved myself significant money on cellular calls. Now each kid can call out from their broadband connection and also feel special because they have their own “landline” personal phone.

As you can see the Magic Jack really is a device for all times. It can be used in variety of situations that are bounded only by your imagination.

Let me recap how Magicjack.com works. Once you get your device(s) in the mail, you simply plug it into an available USB port, the software loads from the Magicjack device and installs on your computer. You’re asked a few questions, including what area code you’d like to use and voila, within minutes you’ve got a fully functioning VOIP telephone service, with voice mail, three way calling, caller ID, and more. The cool thing about Magic Jack is that you can be anywhere in the world and call back to the US … essentially FOR FREE. Well, for about $19 per YEAR.

Now, think about the possibilities with MagicJack.com as a virtual call center solution. For me, I have employees in the Philippines. These employees are outfitted with Magicjack devices. With these Magicjack.com devices my employees are able to both initiate and receive calls from the US. Again, the calls are so cheap (at $19 / year); the cost per call is literally micro cents on the dollar. Furthermore, my employees work from home, so overhead costs are extremely low.

Consider this concept. A company can aggregate their employees in one country, one city or even perhaps across multiple countries. Why would you consider multiple countries? … In order to leverage multiple time zones. Let’s say that you want to provide 24×7 support to clients. You can have people strategically located in different countries working different hours and even different languages, depending on the time zones that you need to support.

One consideration, then, is how to manage this team and the Magicjack.com devices. I think one cool idea is through software that can aggregate all of the Magic Jack numbers. Think of the possibilities. All of the numbers managed by one central software application. This will allow a company to answer all calls from a central location as if you were a huge corporation. The possibilities seem endless.

A more mundane question is how to manage your team’s productivity. The answer to this question is through processes and “timesheets”, as well as an instant message tool you can track productivity through an online project management tool and check to see if your employees are online via instant message.

There are plenty of other ways to increase your productivity and “presence” with Magicjack.com devices. In fact, you can also make your company look so much larger than a one person company by using this cool little product. The cost is nominal but the benefits are tremendous.

I’ve been using a product developed by www.MagicJack.com for the last several months. I can honestly say that this device solves both the “what and the who.” It is brain dead simple to install and use and, yes, it does save you money … and lots of it.

For the uninitiated, MagicJack is a simple little USB device that connects into your computer and either: a) a headset or b) your regular telephone. It uses your broadband connection to make phone calls anywhere in the world. At it’s simplest it’s a VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol phone service. It includes: voice mail, 3-way calling, call waiting, and a DEDICATED phone number. You choose the area code from their list, which is quite extensive. And, it’s AMAZINGLY cheap – $39 for the 1st year and $19 per year thereafter.

I had intended  to use the device from www.MagicJack.com to replace my business phone service. And, of course, I did. I dropped my Comcast service and replaced it with MagicJack. If that was all I did, that would have been great. I would have saved about $600 per year. But, the buck did not stop there.

I also have a virtual assistant in the Philippines. I had actually bought two of these devices from www.MagicJack.com, one for my home office and the other to send to my assistant. And, guess what? This is where the REAL magic appears. My assistant in the Philippines can MAKE and ANSWER phone calls from the Phillipines to and from the US, WITHOUT incurring any international long distance charges. YES, you heard me correctly – NO international calling charges.

Imagine the savings! I figure with the amount of phone calls she makes every day to / from the US, I’ve probably already saved upwards of $1,500 … in just three short months.

The other magical aspect of this device / service is that I can call forward from any of these numbers without incurring any call forwarding charges. Unlike Sprint or perhaps other mobile sevice provider, call forwarding is free.

There are  many more aspects to this service that I’m planning to implement. But, I can’t give away all of my secrets, yet. The fact remains that the MagicJack is a disruptive technology that could displace traditional phone service from AT&T and others. In addition, it’s also magnitudes cheaper than Vonage and all of the other VOIP service providers.

And, the best thing about it is … it works!

I’d imagine, though, that with 160,000 plus workers, AT&T is bloated just like many government and private companies. It’s always sad to hear when someone / anyone loses their job. It’s especially discouraging when it happens during the Christmas holiday season.

This layoff is particularly interesting because of how it might affect iPhone sales and service. However, it appears that the layoffs are targeted toward employees who are primarily on the voice side of the business. The traditional voice business has been steadily losing customers to wireless / cell phone service for the last several years. AT&T also said that they would be hiring employees on their more profitable cell phone business.

These layoffs AND hiring come on the heels of consumers moving rapidly to adopt cell phones as their primary communication method.

Times are a-changing indeed in this industry. There so many cell phone / pda options for people now that consumers will likely see some real benefits from these slow economic times. For example, one of the latest rumors is that Walmart will start selling a $99 iPhone. The rumor continues that this will be a 4G version which was very popular, especially when the first iPod Touches were released.

Additionally, Google, of course, launched their heralded G1 a couple of months back. Reviews of this device have been lukewarm. But, it does speak to the fact that competition is healthy and will get even more intense as mobile device manufacturers try to knock off the king of the hill – Apple.

However, I don’t see widespread consumer adoption of any one device or operator until one of the big carriers drops their cost / min, cost / text, cost / data plan significantly. All of the operators continue to hold onto what little margins they have by increasing prices in one area or the other.

I know this is true for the iPhone for example. One cannot buy an Apple iPhone without at least buying the $30 data plan. And, a minimum, ya gotta have texting. Kaching … add at least $5 per month for 200 messages. And finally, ya also gotta get a minimum voice plan of $70. That’s a WHOPPING $105 for an individual plan. Talk about sockin’ it to you!

And, what is this nonsense about being charged to pay your bill? How absurd is that? If you decide to use a “live” operator rather than an automated system, you “could” be subject to a fee.

Remember the good old days when you went to fill up your gas tank. The attendant came out washed your windows, checked your oil, and then filled up your tank? Some of them even shook you hand.

No more …

True price reductions will only come from healthy competition, both on the DEVICE side and on the PLAN side. I applaud Google for bring some competition to the device side. But, hey, these devices are pretty much a commodity anyway.

One of the big carriers needs to start pushing the envelope on cellular rate plans. Then, the average consumer can begin to see the real benefits of affordable pricing.

Call your congressman today!