JumperTel takes on MagicJack, Skype with USB phone

Startup JumperTel is aiming to take the Internet phone and USB device market seeded by Skype and MagicJack and make things even simpler with an IP-based USB phone that works when it’s plugged in.

That’s the promise, anyway, from this small, Madison, Wisc.-based company, which is officially launching the JumperTel USB Phone today. The phone, just $22, is accompanied by a service that lets users make unlimited calls worldwide for just $12 per year.

The company’s strategy is equal parts Skype and MagicJack: the Skype part comes becomes the device allows only calling to other JumperTel phones, similar to basic Skype service; the MagicJack copy is the focus on a physical device that plugs into a PC USB port. The device also competes with calling cards, perhaps the most popular way for callers to make cheap calls worldwide.

The hope is that the JumperTel phone, which includes the software to run the device on the phone itself, will be easy to use for novices than and cheaper and more straightforward than other IP devices and services, said Dennis Barnum, COO of JumperTel.

“What we wanted to provide, for lack of a better term, is a clean service – there’s no gimmicks, no advertising on the call, what you see is what you get,” Barnum said.

To use the phone, users plug the device into a computer’s USB port and then follow instructions to install the device. JumperTel executives said they’ve tried the phone in Internet cafes and the device’s simple installation and limited requirements for access to the local PC means it is expected to work even on such shared, public machines.

The JumperTel network is owned and provided by a sister company run by the same investors. Calls run over the Internet and then to a data center run by JumperTel. The company has ability to assign phone numbers and route calls to the public network – like Skype or MagicJack – but for now is focused on routing calls on a peer-to-peer basis, eliminating complexity and cost. JumperTel users get a 10-digit number to call, but instead of an actual phone number it’s a serial number burned into each device.

At least initially, JumperTel is selling the phones online via its Web site, but it is looking into other distribution opportunities, particularly in overseas markets like India where cheap calling is a robust market. U.S.-based ethnic groups are a big target as well.