DigiActive.org

Tool: MagicJack links you up with North America

Tool Description: I recently surprised Mary by giving her a short call in the US, all the way from India, simply to tell her that I received her email. Unusual, eh? If you’re located in the Third World (a term I use deliberately and out of choice), most could barely afford calls half-way-round-the-planet!

Imagine a relatively affordable device which makes phone calls to both landlines and mobile phones in the US and Canada, at rates more or less affordable to activists the world over. magicJack [http://www.magicjack.com] is one such tool that can help you do just this.

Activist Application:  Many campaigns nowadays are international.  While text-based forms of communication like e-mail, social networks, IRC, and instant messaging are effective ways for activists to communicate internationally, sometimes we still need to talk to one another to coordinate effectively.   If you are working with activists in North America, magicJack is a low-cost option.

Ease of Use: Plug magicJack into your computer’s USB port. Then connect it to any land-line phone. Make calls like you normally would. All you need is a computer with a broadband connection.  It costs $40 for the first year, and $20 per year thereafter.  There are no charges per-call, which could give  magicJack some benefits over Skype-out, where you still pay a per-minute rate.  You get a US phone-number on which people could phone you back, and can access voice-mail too.

On the flip side, this Wikipedia page [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagicJack] has a section on criticism of the product and some users have said that it is unreliable.

Its’ a  useful tool to get into voice communication with another world out there in North America.

image credit: getusb.info