10 questions about mobile phones with answers

1.  What's the difference between analog and digital phones?

Analog phones operate on an older and less effective technology. This technology doesn't scale well and is more costly. Analog service is not compatible with numerous new features. Digital phones are lighter and more compact and have a longer battery life. When you are inside of a calling area the quality is better than analog. Digital phones support new features like caller ID, text messaging or wireless internet services.

2. What is a Dual Band Phone?
A Dual band phone is a phone that can operate on an analog and digital service.

3. What type of battery has the longest life?
Lithium-Ion or Li-Ion batteries have the longest life. They also happen to be the lightest in weight. The two pluses means there is minus attached, which is price. A li-ion battery will always be the most expensive type of battery available.

4. What's the difference between the Stand-by time and Talk time?
Your phone is in standby mode when your phone is on but you aren't talking. The power consumption is minimal and the phone can stay in this mode for a longer period of time. When you are using the phone you are using talk time. This consumes battery power at a much quicker rate. Your battery life will be somewhere between talk time and standby time

5. What is a roaming charge?
A roaming charge is when you make a call from outside of your calling area. Your calling area is defined by plan local, regional or national.

6. What are peak and off peak hours?
Peak hours are during the day when the cellular networks are very busy. These minutes are at premium and your plan will typically include the smallest amount of these. If you use more than your allotted peak minutes they will be billed at a much higher rate than off peak minutes. Off peak is the exact opposite of peak time. Each cellular provider has their own definition of off peak.

7. What are anytime minutes?
Anytime minutes are simply put minutes you can use anytime, peak or off peak. On most plans you will use anytime minutes first.

8. Do I pay for the call when someone calls me?
Usually yes. You are billed for the airtime when you receive a call. However some service providers are offering unlimited in network calls.

9. Should I buy a cell phone or look for a free cellular phone?
Free phones generally speaking don't have the latest features, they are anywhere from 6 to 12 months behind. Also, free cell phones generally come with longer contracts. But, it is still possible to get a great deal on a free cell phone.

10. What to do if you want to upgrade/downgrade or cancel your service plan?
You can usually upgrade to higher plan without any cost. Some may force you to extend your contract for 1 to 2 years from that point. Downgrading your plan is often times not an option and when it is there is usually a penalty or fine.

How does SMS service actually work

Short message service (SMS) is a wildly popular feature available on most digital mobile phones. SMS allows users to send short messages to other cell phones. These short messages are called text messages. SMS was invented by a Finnish civil servant named Matti Makkonen. Many people understand what SMS is, but few understand how it actually works.


In SMS, messages are sent with a “store-and-forward” mechanism. The messages are sent to a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), and then relayed to the intended recipient. If the messages do not reach the recipient upon the first attempt, then the SMSC will try again. It is important to understand that SMS delivery is not guaranteed. Many messages cannot be delivered, but the delivery is called “best effort.” The amount of attempts to send a text message varies with the company.

SMS messages are transmitted via SS7 within the standard GSM MAP framework. SMS messages have a certain payload length. The signaling protocol is precisely 140 bytes. In simple terms, SMS messages have very constrained character limits. This is why messages are sent in “txt speak.” Text speak is the practice of shortening words and phrases in order to fit messages into the allowed amount of bandwidth. SMS messages cost different amounts in different countries. In the United States, the average message costs 10 cents.

Text messages do not always have to be sent from mobile phone to mobile phone. AOL Instant Messenger has an option that will send instant messages to a cell phone. Additionally, there is a widget available for Mac OS X Tiger that will allow a user to send text messages to a cell phone from the dashboard. SMS messages can also be utilized to give news alerts. Additionally, SMS messages can be used to give sports updates and statistics. In this way, SMS messages are very versatile.

Technology is constantly evolving. SMS services prove that communication is becoming broader and easier. Technologists predict that SMS service will advance such that the service will be more reliable, and be able to store more data for the purpose of transmission.

Choosing a correct mobile phone for you

There are a number of varieties of mobile phones in the market.  It is quite a challenging task to choose a correct and best mobile phone for you.  However, the basic criterion of selecting the best mobile phone is to be absolutely clear about what your needs are. The best mobile phone is the one that is absolutely right for you.  And, of course, you can only have the best mobile phone when you pay for what you want.


Tons of offers are also available. There are free cellular telephone offers, prepaid cellular, digital, mobile, web enabled and many more. No one can tell you which cell phone is best for you because every one has different needs when it comes to their cellular telephone. Some people want absolutely basic features while others want a lot of totally fantastic features. Some need a cellular telephone for e-mail, faxing and surfing the Internet. Many people want it to be top of the line while others prefer simplicity.

The process of buying a cell phone is so confusing. There are simply so many different handsets, networks, deals and call costs to consider that buying the right phone for your usage and budget can be very difficult.

Here are a few tips to help you choose the best cell phone. First of all, decide how much you want to spend and be clear on the features you need. Remember that the more the features, the higher the cost.

• Purchase a battery with a decent battery life and judge the mobile phone by the talk time it gives. The bare minimum should be 2 hours of maximum talk-time plus 90 hours of maximum standby time.
• Shop and compare for pricing and service. These days, quality phones are very cheap. There is a proliferation of cell phone makers including Nokia, Motorola, Ericson, Siemens, Samsung, Sony, etc. More importantly, cellular plans have come down enormously in overall price with some caveats.
• Some Standard features include caller ID, phone book with fast dial, call waiting, voice mail and auto-answering. Some also have other added features like your first incoming minute free. The high-end cell phones will have voice-a ctivated dialing, SMS, 2-way paging, games, scheduling calendars, digital organizer and all the standard features. The main thing is to see what fits into your life style best and also to be sure when and if the features expire.
• While making a cell phone and service plan decision, remember that everybody's needs are different. So what's good for your friend may not be the best choice for you. Your best bet would be to search online for websites with good cell phone comparisons in order to get a quality cell phone offer.
• To make sure that your cell phone comparisons are complete look at Nokia cell phones, Ericsson cell phones, Sprint cell phones, Motorola cell phones and Samsung cell phones. Research the different free cell phone offers, prepaid cell phones and service plans from brand names like AT

What is GSM

GSM (Global system for Mobile communications) is the international standard  for mobile telephony through out the world.  In covered areas, mobile phone users can buy one phone that will work anywhere where the standard is supported. To connect to the specific service provider in a particular place, GSM users simply switch the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards. SIM Cards are small removable disks that slip in and out of GSM cell phones. They store all the connection data and identification numbers you need to access a particular wireless service provider.

It is estimated that more than 80% of the mobile phone users in the world use GSM.   GSM is considered as the second generation technology in mobile phones.  The GSM networks operate in different frequency bands of operation.  Most of the GSM networks in the world operate at 900 MHz frequency or the 1800 MHz band.   In some places the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands are also used.  Very rarely 400 and 450 MHz bands are also used in some places.  The transmitted power of GSM phones is limited to around 2 Watts.

Mobile Phone Codes

All Mobile  Phones have special codes associated with them. These phones are used to identify the phone, the phone's owner, and the service provider. The following list gives some of the codes associated with Mobile Phones.

• Electronic Serial Number (ESN) : A unique 32 bit number programmed into the cell phone when it is manafactured
• Mobile Identification Number (MIN) : A 10 digit number derived from your phone's number
• System Identification Code (SID): A unique 5 digit number that is assigned to each carrier by FCC ( Federal communications commission)

While the ESN is considered as a permanent part of the phone, both the MIN and SID codes are programmed into the phone when you purchase a service plan and have the phone activated.

What is a Mobile Phone

Millions of people around the world use Mobile phones now a days.  With a mobile phone  you can talk to any one in this planet. Depending on the mobile phone  model you can:

• Store Contact Information
• Make task or to-do lists
• Keep track of appointments and set reminders
• Get information (news, entertainment, stock quotes) from the internet
• Play games
• Watch TV
• Send text and multimedia messages
• Integrate other devices like mp3 players, camera, and GPS receivers

One of the most interesting thing about a mobile phone is that it is actually a radio -- an extremely sophisticated radio.