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If you are one who does a lot of international traveling, then you will want your clients to be able to reach you from wherever you might be in the world. But what are some of the options you have when it comes to maintaining your current level of cell phone services worldwide? Do you have to buy a new plan? Do you have to pay outrageous rates? Just what is available?

First of all, the country where you live is very important when it comes to international cell phone services. Most of the countries have one standard in cellular communications known as Global System for Mobile Communications or GSM. However, the United States did not follow the GSM standard and allowed competing wire carriers to develop their own standards. So, if you are coming from the United States and want to get cell phone coverage in another part of the world with your existing equipment, you probably will not be able to do it.

So let’s get back to our options for international cell phone service. It is important to understand that the key issues to having effective international cell phone service is that you must have a phone that will handle the frequencies plus a service that is compatible within the country you are communicating from. If you have a phone set that handles GSM service, then your phone will be compatible in at least 212 countries worldwide, as far as hardware is concerned. The only other item you will have to be concerned with is the service plan.

The GSM frequencies operate worldwide typically at 900 MHz but more and more the cell phones are operating at 1800 MHz. There are some GSM phone services in the United States and Canada but they work at 1900 and 850 MHz and therefore are incompatible with the rest of the world. That is why more and more we are starting to see tri-band phones being sold that are compatible with both international and North American GSM frequencies. The Nokia 3220 is a good example as it will handle both the 1800 and 1900 MHz frequency bands.

But what about the international cell phone service? If you get one of the tri-band phones you can get a SIM card that can be used in multiple countries. These SIM cards are somewhat like pre-paid phone service. You put the card in your GSM-capable phone and have international roaming coverage from wherever the card is valid.

When choosing an international cell phone SIM card for your GSM phone, there are things you should consider when making a decision on which SIM card to buy. First, what is the initial calling credit (how long before you have to recharge)? Of course you should know the rate structure of both the incoming and outgoing calls. Next you should make sure that your phone and SIM card you are purchasing will be valid for the countries you intend to travel.

Since you are not going to be global roaming with your home cell phone service, you will want to let everyone there know how they can reach you by your new number. You can also change the greeting on the voice mailbox of your regular home cell phone service telling your callers your new access number while you are out of the country.

While you are using SIM cards that will be exchanged or replaced, make sure that you save everything (phone numbers, memos, notes, etc.) into your cell phone handset and not the SIM card. If you save any information on your SIM card, then the information will be unavailable whenever you exchange for a new card in another country.

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Article section of page http://www.polomercantil.com.br/celular.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for http://www.polomercantil.com.br

It’s not a 21st century gadget. It was developed in 1947 in the form of a car mobile phone. The concept of cellular phone was produced by Bell Laboratories with the permission of FCC (Federal Communication Commission), and had everything to do with broadcasting and sending a radio or television message out over the airwaves. But there was a scientist, who gave a new shape to the same device. Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager in Motorola, made the first call on a portable cell phone back in 1973.

The first ever cellular phone was very large and bulky. It almost looked like a radio frequency device. The weight of Motorola’s first cell phone was 2 pounds. But now the structure of these devices have evolved to match the style and comfort of the users. They have shrunk drastically both in size and weight. It is easy to tailor these devices by choosing its features and functions for one’s comfort. There are phone covers that change the face and design of the device. Various accessories are available such as car chargers, belt clips, phone covers, data cables and etc.

Cell phone emerged as a device of luxury, but in the fast growing technical world, it plays a much bigger and important role. You can get wireless Internet service through your phone device, with web and email capability. A cellular phone with a mini web browser can help retrieve web emails and chat, etc., while you are on the move. A special kind of browser is used for surfing the net on a small screen. If internet use is a must, make sure that when buying this device you make the choice for graphic browser capability instead of a text-based browser. Also, if you think you will browse the wireless Internet often, you may want to consider buying it with a larger than average display size.

There are International websites that allow sending mails, without having a computer. All you need is a basic GPRS enabled mobile phone and you can access your mail on your dervice anytime and anywhere. It is no wonder that cell phones have become a bed-side essential for us today, like a bottle of water that we may need any time. It is no longer a device of entertainment. From local weather forecast in the morning to your loved ones good night messages, it keeps you connected all the time.

With cell phones becoming a device with all the modern technology, its theft is growing across the world. In a survey it was found that in the UK a cell phone is stolen every three minutes. In the United States, the statistics are very similar too. By keeping a note on the IMES identification that each phone has, you can trace a phone, though it’s a tedious process. The IMES code is individual to each device, when you lose your phone, you can refer the code to your network provider as well as handset provider and trace back the cellular phone, or at least block the applications in the phone. The person who stole the phone can’t use it after the IMES code is blocked.

Cell phones have definitely become a very popular consumer electronic product. Not just for plain conversation, but for lots of other purposes. With the availability of internet connection, this device has broaden even more its options of uses. Not to mention GPS capability, a life saver for tracking cell phone users who are in emergency situations.

Whether for personal or professional purposes, people just can’t seem to live without cell phone. A luxury item in the early days, now it is a must have item at all times.

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Article section of page http://www.polomercantil.com.br/celular.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for http://www.polomercantil.com.br

Cell phone is a wireless, portable, long-range, electronic telephone, which during travel can seamlessly change antenna connections, from one radio reception cell to another radio reception cell, without dropping or losing the ongoing call.

Besides the standard voice function of a telephone, latest cell phones have features such as SMS for text messages, MMS for multimedia messages, radio, games, internet connectivity for email, browsing, blogging, music (MP3) playback, memo recording, built-in cameras and camcorders, ringtones, personal organizers, Push-to-Talk (PTT), Bluetooth and infrared connectivity, call registers, streaming video, downloading video, video call, and also serve as wireless modems for PCs that can be connected to the Internet.

The power in a cell phone is obtained from rechargeable batteries, which can be recharged from the mains, a USB port or a cigarette lighter port in an automobile. Nickel Metal Hydride were the most common types of batteries, which due to the “memory effect” (the user can recharge only when the entire battery is drained off) were replaced by Lithium-Ion batteries, which did not suffer from any memory effect.

Cell phones came into existence because of the invention of hexagonal cells in 1947, for the base stations by Bell Labs engineers at AT&T. This was further developed during the 1960s by Bell Labs. During a call, the channel frequency could not be changed automatically from one cell (base station coverage area) to another cell (base station coverage area) as the person traveled from the area of one cell to the area of another cell. Amos Joel of Bell Labs invented a breakthrough invention and called it as the `call handoff` by which the channel frequency could be changed automatically from one cell to another cell, during the same call, as the mobile user traveled from one cell to another cell. Due to their heavy construction, these phones were used mainly in automobiles.

The first practical cell phone in a non-vehicle setting, and which could be handheld, was invented by Martin Cooper, the General Manager (Communications Division) of Motorola, who made the world`s first handheld cell phone call on April 3, 1973.

The technology by which the cell phone works depends on the mobile phone operator; however, all of them use electromagnetic radio waves, which are in touch with a cell site (base station). The base station is composed of several antennas which are mounted on a pole, tower, or building. Cell sites are spread at a distance of 5 to 8 miles (approx. 8 to 13 km) from each other. The low power transceiver from the cell phone transmits the voice and data to the nearest cell site. During movement, the cell phone will “handoff” the information to other cell site. Mobile phone operators use many technologies to maintain the smooth stream of digitized data from the cell phone to the cell site and vice versa.

The wireless telephone technologies are grouped under heads known as generations, starting from zero generation or 0G. The current generation going on is 4G; however, there are old cell phones that still operate on 1G, 2G, and 3G technologies. The wireless telephone technologies used in each generation are as given below:

0G: PTT, MTS, IMTS, AMTS, OLT, MTD, Autotel/PALM, ARP
1G: NMT, AMPS/TACS/ETACS, Hicap, CDPD, Mobitex, DataTac
2G: GSM, iDEN, D-AMPS, IS-95/cdmaOne, PDC, CSD, PHS, GPRS, HSCSD, WiDEN, CDMA2000 1xRTT/IS-2000, EDGE (EGPRS)
3G: W-CDMA, UMTS (3GSM), FOMA, TD-CDMA/UMTS-TDD, 1xEV-DO/IS-856, TD-SCDMA, GAN (UMA), HSPA, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, HSOPA
4G : UMB, UMTS Revision 8 (LTE), WiMAX

Frequency bands: SMR, Cellular, PCS

The impact of cell phone usage on human health has been of considerable worldwide concern. Research studies in Copenhagen, from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, the National Cancer Institute, and the Institute of Cancer Research, do not establish any link between cancer and cell phone usage. However, an intergovernmental agency IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations, undertook a study of 4,500 users and found a statistically significant link between cell phone usage and tumor frequency. Further research is going on.

Cell phone usage and driving is a common worldwide phenomenon. Some jurisdictions have banned usage of hand-held phones during driving, but allowed the hands-free fashion of cell phone usage while driving. However, studies have found out that the distraction is caused by the conversation itself; hence, both hand-held and hands-free cell phones contribute towards road traffic accidents. Further studies on cell phone usage and driving are going on.

Nokia Corporation is currently the world`s largest manufacturer of cell phones. Other notable cell phone manufacturers, in alphabetical order, are 3G, Audiovox (now UT Starcom), Benefon, BenQ-Siemens, Fujitsu, High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), Kyocera, LG Mobile, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Pantech Curitel, Philips, Research In Motion, Sagem, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Siemens, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, Sony Ericsson, T&A Alcatel, Toshiba, and Verizon.

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Article section of page http://www.polomercantil.com.br/celular.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for http://www.polomercantil.com.br

Globalization is the direct result of the many innovations that have taken place in the field of communications. Before the invention of the telephone, it was unimaginable that one would be able to have a discussion with somebody even twenty miles away. In the world of today, we can’t even bring ourselves to visualize what life would be like if we could not speak across oceans and continents.

Not that long ago a telephone was attached to a wall and could move only as far as the telephone cord. Today, even in our homes we are able to converse about about the weather and everything else under the sun from not just the drawing rooms, but also from the kitchen, the bathroom, the attic, or any other place you can visualize. And all this because the telephone had finally become cordless.

There was a time when the car phone was believed to herald a new beginning. Who would have imagined that there would come a time when you could talk while you were driving from one place to another. Yet, even with cordless phones and car phones, we continued to be fixed to something — in this case, the house and the car respectively.

Then the big boom happened! We saw the invention of something that brought in immense changes in the world in the way in which the world carried out its communication. The period of the mobile phone had now begun. This was obviously very different from the days when letters had to be posted whenever some message of great importance was involved. Back in the days when post was the only way to communicate quickly, one could never have imagined receiving an immediate response. But now, as mobile phones continue to take charge of our lives, the buzzword is instant communication.

We are the children of the communication era, and can observe the rise of newer and newer modes of communication. And the true representative of this era of communication is the mobile phone. We are no longer tied down by telephone cords. We are able to talk to our near and dear ones, our colleagues and mentors, and whoever else we would like to even as we keep moving around.

Gone are the days of learn important phone numbers. No longer do we have to strain our eyes looking for a pay phone if we want to make a call. Thank heavens for the mobile phone that helps us call whoever we want whenever we want!

The author Ajeet Khurana recommends Latest Mobile Phones at http://www.mobiles.co.uk/ Satellite Radio at http://www.radiobeams.com/ and iPods at http://www.ipodsrfun.com/

Cell phones are increasingly used in the modern world. They are no longer a luxury, but are considered a need. They can send and receive e-mail, get information on news, entertainment, make a call home while traveling and contact the police or the ambulance during an emergency.

The radio, telephone and computer technology fused together to make the cell phone technology. Nevertheless, with the advancing technology, marketing became much tougher, and cell phone operators devised numerous clauses in their contracts to ensure that their competitors do not erode their customer base. Thus the cell phone contract was born.

A cell phone contract is an agreement between the buyer and the wireless cell phone service provider. Usually it is of 1 or 2 years of duration, during which a consumer is legally bound to remain with the wireless service provider. Certain operators give a trial period to their consumers. After the trial period of 14 or 30 days is over, when the contract is entered upon and the phone is bought, the penalty for breaking the contract can range from $150 to $600, depending on where the phone was bought.

Before the contract finishes, if a new phone is to be bought, then some companies give a customer loyalty discount, which in effect extends the contract. This may prove to be expensive when compared to buying a new phone with a good discount. Thus, you may be locked in to a single operator, without your knowing it, if you do not read and understand the terms of the cell phone contract.

If one is not satisfied with the service provided by the cell phone service provider, then one can come out of the contract, without paying a termination fee, if someone else is willing to go through the contract for the remaining period. Finding someone willing to undertake this may be difficult. Numerous websites have come up which help you in finding someone to transfer your contract to, however cell phone service providers do not endorse such websites as they only connect the buyer and the seller, doing nothing with the actual transfer.

Thus once you find a buyer for your cell phone contract, you have to contact your cell phone service provider to complete the transfer. This may take quite some time, as your provider will do a credit check on the buyer and if the creditworthiness is not found sufficient for the contract, the transfer will not take place. In case the transfer does take place, then you have the option of keeping the same number that you originally had. Usually, it has been seen that with transfers, you may have to supply the cell phone also as a free incentive to the buyer. High-end cell phones offered free along with the transfer usually get buyers within a couple of days.

Cell phone service providers generally give a trial period before enforcing the contract term, which may be of 1-year or 2-year duration. Almost all providers give at least 14 to 30 days of trail period. A 1-year cell phone contract has a shorter commitment period, which may prove to be beneficial if the phone needs repairs, or is lost.

In addition, since the period is short, one may avail of new discounts that come up. After the term of 1-year ends, the phone can be kept without any contract and no penalty is charged for quitting. However, in a 1-year contract, the activation fee and/or the phone may not be cheap. Certain discounts and promotional offers cannot be availed of as in a 2-year period.

In a 2-year cell phone contract, the activation fee and/or the phone may not be expensive. Huge discounts on the phone may be availed. Special promotions may be availed. However, since the phone is kept for a longer duration, more money may be spent on repairing, insuring, or replacing. The opportunity to buy a new phone reduces, and thus may not be eligible to switch cell phone service providers. Expensive phones may also opt for phone replacement insurance plans. However, due to the costs of such plans, few subscribe to these plans.

Pre-Paid or No Contract cell phones are not available with all cell phone service providers. They are attractive as they require no commitment, the credit history is unimportant, and there is no penalty for quitting. However, call charges may be more expensive, and no promotional discounts etc., may be availed of.

It is always advisable to read and fully understand the terms of the cell phone provider as stated in the contract form, including the fine print, before signing the cell phone contract.

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Article section of page http://www.polomercantil.com.br/celular.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for http://www.polomercantil.com.br