Just Blogging

Chad Creel asked:




The LG Chocolate KG800 is a hot Cell Phone with many top features you would look for in your everyday phone and many unexpected features to make it a top of the line phone. You would think a phone with this many features would be high prices but this is not the case. The LG Chocolate is a very affordable phone for all the features that it offers.

The LG Chocolate KG800 is a beautiful slide opening camera phone which has a black covered casing with a shiny silver section which divides the display from the touch sensitive keys. The touch sensitive keys that are offered for the LG Chocolate are very convenient when using your cell phone. Its ease of use is something I really like about the LG Chocolate. These Keys are somewhat sensitive, but very much worth it because of the functionality that it adds to the cell phone. The touch sensitive keys glow red when in use & fade out when not it use which is both attractive & highly usable for the user.

This LG phone comes with a 2 Inch color screen which provides a clear & bright display with a screen resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.

The LG Chocolate also comes with a 2 megapixel camera which is complete with an automatic flash. The user can see the camera lens, LED flash & self portrait mirror when the phone is in its slide open position. When taking pictures you can also save them to your phone, so that you can hang on to your memories and print them out later. The phone comes with a video feature which allows the user to record, play & stream video.

All and all the LG Chocolate looks good, works great and has more capabilities than you would expect for the general retail price of this phone. Check it out I think you will be amazed at this great product put out by LG.

Tosin Ajibowo asked:




One thing GSM Cell Phone users and owners alike are awakening to is the fact that Cell Phone accessories abound all around in the stores and markets close by around your neighbourhood.

Whatever the fault, problem, broken or damaged part of a Cell Phone, the particular part can be repaired and/or replaced with a spare (new and fully functional).

Cell phone Companies and manufacturers really are making quite a fortune off of GSM Cell Phone parts the world over.

With the ongoing research and technological discoveries and development, manufacturers continue to thrill the Cell Phone users/owners to a wide variety of designs and styles and features (enough to take your breathe away at times- I mean, cool features and great functions…).

Following is the great move geared towards manufacturing durable parts, built to last and serve many years before the request for a change or overhaul of an average Cell Phone.

Long gone are the days and times when GSM Cell Phone owners and users discard their broken, washed, scratched, damaged or faulty handsets, abandoning these tat times among the scraps (and junk classified items in the loft or basement).

In our present day and age, a ready made solution has been provided and this is to simply send the damaged, faulty or problematic GSM Cell Phone to a Repairs Centre to fix.

With a little fee or charge, one’s Cell Phone can be restored back to full function and use after repairs. It comes out in a new and appealing way (depending on the type of repairs carried out though).

At times, you can even go the DIY (do-it-yourself) way with a few helpful tips here & there and one or two repair tools handy as well.

John Dulaney asked:




Italy - the name itself spells romance. A visit to this country is a life time experience, with its great historical past and the cultural heritage. It is where Renaissance was born and the country has romance in the air, no matter which part of Italy you visit. You will be travelling to Rome, Florence, Venice and many other cities and you will be reminded of Italy’s cultural heritage every where you go. At the same time, you would need to be in touch with your people - your associates, friends and not to mention your family back home. A pre-paid Italy SIM card could serve you the purpose and more, with features that can save you up to 80% of your communication expenses. This pre-paid Italy cell phone gets you a local number and all your outgoing calls are charged at local rates, while all your incoming calls are FREE of any charge.

SIM stands for Subscriber Identity Module and your pre-paid Italy SIM card is of a size little smaller than a postage stamp which goes into a slot at the back of your cell phone. It is basically a microprocessor printed circuit board having memories. Your pre-paid Italy SIM card is the intelligent module which lets you make and receive calls, send receive SMS messages and many other mobile telephony features. The SIM card holds all your unique information, such as, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of your mobile phone, your service plan, your cell phone number, etc., which is automatically transmitted to the local tower of the network. The information contained in your pre-paid Italy SIM card is then validated against the information received and when matched, your cell phone is ready to be used. Your pre-paid Italy SIM card has an address book where you can store the names and phone numbers of the people you often call. SIM cards operate on GSM and as such your cell phone should be GSM compatible. More-over it has to be compatible with the network frequency bands in Italy.

Italy is a GSM country, which means that networks in Italy operate on GSM technology.
The cell phone that you carry with you needs to be GSM compatible. Not only that, it has to respond to the network frequencies in Italy. If you have a US GSM cell phone, it might not work in Italy unless it is a multi-frequency band handset. http://www.italysimcards.com offers Italy cell phone rentals at a much cheaper rate, a fraction of the cost offered by others. Italy cell phone rentals are all GSM compatible, and respond to the Italian network frequency bandwidths.

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) was first introduced in 1991 and by 1997 more than hundred countries were using GSM technology. Now, GSM is used by over 214 countries, having over 80% of subscribers out of the total cellular phone users in the world. You will need a compatible GSM phone with you when you visit Italy, while using your pre-paid Italy SIM card. An open structure technology, GSM is the second generation (2G) digital mobile telephony system having four set of frequency bands. These are - 850 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, which are distributed to the different regions, with some of the regions using common frequency bands. GSM Networks in Italy operate on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequency bands. If you have a GSM cell phone with you, it is unlikely that it would work in Italy, unless it responds to multi-frequency bandwidths, where one of the bandwidths will conform to the Italian network. Networks in North America, Canada and few other neighbouring countries operate on 850 MHz and 1900 MHz frequency bands, which are entirely different from the GSM frequencies in Italy.

When in Italy, besides sight seeing, there is ample opportunity to enjoy the specialties of Italian food. There are cultural shows that you would like to watch. In Florence the clubs and pubs are at the center of the city. There are Irish, English, American and even Spanish pubs, where you would perhaps like to have a glass of the best Chianti wine. You would need to reserve a seat at the show that you would like to watch. You would like to dine at the Al Giardinetto, in Venice after a ride through the Grand Canal. You would need to book your place as well as reserve a seat at the show. You would find it quite expensive to do all these from your hotel telephone. Italy cell phone rentals would let you save on your cell phone costs and a pre-paid Italy SIM card could save you up to 80% on your communication costs.

When you rent Italy cell phone, the battery of the Italy cell phone comes fully charged, for you to use it straight away as soon as you reach Italy. When you purchase a pre-paid Italy SIM card, it carries with it a small talk time credit, which lets you make calls as soon as you reach your destination. When-ever you want, you can top up your talk time credit by purchasing a recharge coupons from any convenient store in Italy. There are various denominations of these coupons to choose from, and you can have the right value of the credit that you would want.

It is far economical to rent Italy cell phone for your visit to Italy, and with a pre-paid Italy SIM card you get the benefit of unbelievable savings. When you purchase a pre-paid Italy SIM card, you pre-pay for your calls, recharging your talk time credit time to time by purchasing recharge vouchers. This lets you to be aware of the amount of money that you are spending towards the use of your cell phone. You do not have to sign a contract in purchasing a pre-paid Italy SIM card and you do not get any of those month end bills for the calls that you make.

You shall find it convenient in having a GSM cell phone with you. A rented Italy cell phone would be a very convenient and economical solution for you consider, since if you should carry your US phone on roaming, the bill at the end of the month will be outrageous. Along with Italy cell phone rentals, a pre-paid Italy SIM card would save you more, in fact up to 80% of your call charges. With a pre-paid Italy SIM card, you get a local number and you pay only for your outgoing calls and that too at the rate what the locals pay. More-over, all your incoming calls are FREE, no matter where it generates from. You would need a GSM cell phone to make your calls while you are travelling to the various tourist spots in Italy and what best can you get other than going for Italy cell phone rental along with a pre-paid Italy SIM card, all from http://www.italysimcards.com

The combination is an outstanding offer from http://www.italysimcards.com which you cannot miss. The package has been especially created to let you enjoy your visit to Italy and make every moment of your stay in Italy memorable, without worrying about getting in touch with your associates, friends and family back home when-ever you want to. At the same time, you are available to those who want to get in touch with you, no matter where you are in Italy.

http://www.italysimcards.com offers the best prices for Italy cell phone rentals and pre-paid Italy SIM cards than any other company. Rent Italy cell phone from http://www.italysimcards.com and get a global support service, 24 hours, 365 days a year. With a pre-paid Italy SIM card, you do not get end-of-the-month bills, since you pre-pay for your calls and you are in full control of the budget that you have set for the purpose.

As you travel through Italy, visiting the famous Coliseum in Rome, having a pleasure trip down the Grand Canal in one of those Gondolas, enjoying the attractions of the protected natural areas and National Parks with those peaceful lakes located high up in the mountains and the prosperous marine life along the coast, or simply enjoying the traditional hospitality of the Italians, at one time, you would need to recharge your pre-paid Italy SIM card for more talk time credit. All you need to do is to walk into any of the convenient stores in the Italian city you are and ask for a recharge voucher. These vouchers are available in many denominations for you to choose the amount of talk time credit that you would want.

You have two options when you travel to Italy with your cell phone. The first being you take your US cell phone with you and also taking your US number along with. You would need to do this through your home service provider, who will provide you with roaming features. When you are in roaming with your cell phone in Italy, you are a visitor to a certain network in that country, since you are now out of your own geographical area. In order that you may roam with your cell phone, your home service provider has entered into a business contract with that one in Italy. Technically, as you receive or make a call from your cell phone, you will be using the local network where-ever you are in Italy. This usage costs more money to you for calls that you make and receive. This is the reason why your call charges are outrageously high when you roam with your cell phone.

The second option is that, you rent Italy cell phone when you travel to Italy. Italy cell phone rentals provide you with the right GSM phone that you should have when you are in Italy. Even if you have a GSM cell phone, it does not mean that it will work in Italy, unless you have a tri-band or quad band phone. GSM frequency bands in US and Italy are different. Networks in North America, Canada and few other countries in the Americas, including Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands, operate on 850 MHz and 1900 MHz, which are not compatible with the frequencies used by the networks in Italy. Networks in Italy operate on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.

Italy cell phone rentals from http://www.italysimcards.com ensure that you get the correct handset which complies with the Italian networks. More-over, you save further by purchasing a pre-paid Italy SIM card which would save you up to 80% of your communication costs in addition to the savings that you make in Italy cell phone rental. With a pre-paid Italy SIM card you are always in control of your expenses, since you always pre-pay for the calls that you make from your GSM cell phone. With a pre-paid Italy SIM card, all your incoming calls are FREE of charge.

You will be travelling to Naples. The name is more romantically called Napoli by the Italians. It has the third most population amongst the cities in Italy and is in proximity to several tourist sites, such as, Pompeii and the Bay of Naples. It is a vibrant city and you can see the living cultural heritage of Italy when you visit the wonderful historical and artistic treasures. As you walk through the narrow winding streets in Naples, nostalgia crowds your mind. You would need your Italy cell phone here too. Italy provides one of the best coverage of mobile telephony in the world and therefore you do not experience any ‘dropped calls’ where-ever you may be calling. The usage of cell phones in Italy has surpassed the landline installations. Whether you are in Rome, Florence or Venice, your calls will be connected with excellent crystal clear reception, without any break in the call set up. Your pre-paid Italy SIM card along with your Italy cell phone rental would take you far in your savings, with a promise that you will never receive a bill at the end of the month to pay for your calls. You pay for your outgoing calls as the locals do. What best could you have in saving money!

John Dulaney asked:




Cellboost

Every cell phone has one thing in common that they need power to operate. This power comes from the re-chargeable battery that each phone has. When-ever the charge depletes, you charge it again with an adapter. At times, owing to your over-sight, you may forget to top up the charge of your battery and run out of power, when the mobile phone shuts down. You were in the middle of a conversation. With your mobile now without power, you are unable to call him back. What do you do?

This is where you need, what is called a Cellboost. It comes with a plug which fits into your cell phone, and provides power for approximately 60 minutes of talk time. The unit is a small, light-weight hard container, which can be carried in a brief case, as a pocket book, or in your car’s glove compartment. The Cellboost is a disposable unit and can be easily disposed. It releases the power to your phone quickly through a “quick-charge” method that transfers full power to your phone. It has been observed that a phone with a completely dead battery, Cellboost takes about two minutes to power up your phone.

The Cellboost battery charger comes in various models, each having a different plug type to fit the different types of cell phones. With a Cellboost, you get a stand-by power for your handset for the promised 60 minutes or more of talk time. Cellboost is compatible with a wide range of mobile handsets, like, Motorola, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Siemens phones. When you buy a Cellboost, you need to buy one which is compatible with your phone. The product is available in drug stores, supermarkets, and airports.

Callboost cannot be recharged like you recharge your regular cell phone battery. It is a disposable power boost product. The disadvantage is that you cannot find out how much of power is left in the unit after you use it for certain time. Since Cellboost provides at least 60 minutes of talk time, you may estimate the time of usage left, by estimating how much talk time you have used up with the Cellboost plugged in your mobile. This is a very rough estimation and cannot be called a dependable estimate. However, with the kind of price that you pay for Cellboost, which costs approximately $6.00, you can easily keep a spare one.

Cellboost does not require any connection to an electrical outlet. It does not require additional cables or hardware to function. You just need to plug in the unit to your handset and it starts to deliver the required power. Cellboost power may be used all at once or periodically as you require. When it is empty, you just simply discard it and get another.
Desktop Speaker Stand

It is the little things that make a real difference. Desktop Speaker Stand is a unit which lets you type and talk at the same time. With your mobile fully charged, you can synchronise the phone calendar with your PC at any time. Desktop Speaker Stand lets you have the complete freedom when you can synchronise the time and talk, hands free as well, hearing your caller loud and clear. This accessory is compatible with Sony Ericsson phones of types K700, P800, P900, P910 and Z1010. For a small conference, you can use the in-built speaker to talk and listen as well and for private conversations, there are two plugs available, one for Sony Ericsson phone and the other for your normal headset. Besides being a speaker phone, the unit also charges your Sony Ericsson handset and you can also maintain an address book in the system. The feature allows you to converse on the speaker phone even when your handset is charging. The Desktop Speaker Stand can also work on your mobile phone’s battery and this makes the unit portable, where-by you can carry your Desktop Speaker Stand on your business trips or to meetings where you would need the function of a speaker phone.

USB Data Kit

USB Data Kit comes along with software designed to manage data a desk top PC and synchronise it with your mobile. The software has a handset manager. The manager is certain software, which lets you get the maximum application values out of your handset. In this modern day of telecommunication era, while mobile handsets lets you store many of your personal data, such as, phone book, and other personalised configuration, the utility of USB Data Kit supports different languages, such as, Chinese (Taiwan), Chinese (China), Czech and Slavic Languages, German, Dutch, English, French, Italian, and many more. This provides more flexibility for you to accomplish more out of your phone in your personal and business life. USB Data Kit is helpful in many ways which includes efficient message exchange, effective database management, and creative SMS design.

Bluetooth Headset

High end mobile handsets are all Bluetooth enabled. A Bluetooth is a device by which a wireless connectivity could be set-up between your headsets, your mobiles and could be extended to patching this with your car’s audio system and your onboard navigation equipment. The device enables you to make phone calls, synchronising data with desktop computers, sending and receiving faxes, printing documents, etc. It works on short range Radio Frequency (RF) transmission, operating at 2.4GHz, featuring data transmission at the rate of 1Mbps.

Bluetooth sets up a wireless connection between your headset and your mobile phone and is capable in setting up such wireless connectivity between many other devices. It is an inexpensive way to have a secured short range RF connectivity, and with this device you can set up up-to seven established connectivity at any one time, which may include, cell phones, headsets, cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, printers, keyboards, handheld computers, and even Bluetooth-capable cars.

Bluetooth provides a talk time of up-to 5 hours, with a stand-by time of 100 hours, and some of the models weigh about 21 grams. In selecting a Bluetooth, you should first determine if the product is easy to put on and remove, and that you are comfortable in wearing the device. You will need to see if the volume and other controls are easy to operate. It is important that the battery is rechargeable and the specifications should mention the number of devices that it can set up connectivity with.
Universal FM Headset

With a Universal FM Headset, you can tune or seek stations automatically from the headset itself. A 4-digit LCD display lets you see what frequency you are on and when a call comes, you just need to press a button on the headset microphone to talk while your radio gets switched off. After you have finished your conversation, continue with your FM music by ending the call with the same button on the microphone. When travelling internationally, you need to remember that the power outlets, i.e., the electrical power sockets are different in countries abroad and also are the electrical power, which is 220 volts AC in most of the countries. Therefore, it is necessary to carry with you the required adapters for the country that you are visiting. You will need to ascertain the compatibility of the adapters with the concerned people before buying any such.

You also need to remember that most of the batteries that are used contain environmentally harmful materials. Therefore, you need to be careful as to how you dispose them. You need to be aware of accessory over-load. Be careful in applying more electrical power, since if you do you may damage the device.

Universal Battery Charger

A dead phone battery has often landed you in a spot when you frantically want to make an urgent call. You could be stranded in the middle of nowhere and you so much wish that you had a spare battery or a charger. A Universal charger can provide you with the feature to recharge your mobile phone battery from a variety of sources, including a computer USB port, a car cigarette lighter, or from a pair of AA batteries which would give you enough power for a good few hours of use. The options will give you the mental relief of not having to run out of battery power for your mobile. A Universal Battery Charger fits a wide range of phones and is especially advantageous owing to its capability in letting you charge your mobile battery from the USB port of your PC, your car cigarette lighter, or even from two AA batteries through a wide variety of adapters.

Rae Edwards asked:




It’s really no wonder that the CECT line of iClones are such a runaway success. No matter how successful any one is at hacking the iPhone (which in itself is questionable), the iPhone will probably never have the innovative features that the clones have. The dual sim slots, removable battery, and added and enhanced features with surround sound pretty much ensure that the clones are superior to the iPhone at this time.

The CECT A8 model is no exception. Not only does it have everything all of the other clones have: the ability to surf the net, multi finger touch touchscreen, the ability to take photos, watch and take video and play and record music, it’s added three new features that make the A8 one of the most innovative clones on the market.

First, it has added shake technology. If you want to advance the media or desktop, you just shake the phone. For instance if you want to change a song, video or wallpaper you don’t have to even look down or bother scrolling, you just shake the phone until it gets where you want it to go.

Second, it has vibrating, surround sound speakers which gives the A8 3D sound. The sound system on this phone is phenomenal.

Third, you can tilt the phone to change it from portrait to landscape mode, which is very useful when watching video or manipulating photos.

The A8 is currently between $100 and $150, depending on where you get it. That’s a great price considering you are getting many more features than the iPhone at a fraction of the iPhone’s price without the expensive contract.

Rae Edwards asked:




Last year Chinese cell phone manufacturer CECT became well known for its iPhone clone called the P168. Encouraged by this success, the company quickly rolled out additions to its line up. In my opinion, many of the newer models look nothing like the iPhone and function in an entirely different way. A perfect example of this is the new CECT T68 (AKA the HiTune) which seems to be inspired by Blackberry or HTC models. I have often been asked when the clone manufacturers were going to tackle the windows based productivity smartphones. That time seems to be now.

The most popular feature of the T68 is windows mobile 5.0. This means that you can run many popular productivity programs like Word, MSN, Excel, Outlook Express and PowerPoint. You can easily sync information with your desktop computer or notebook via ActiveSync. This ease of use makes this model extremely popular with students and executives who want to send, receive, or edit documents away from the classroom or office. (Although I can say from personal experience that the gaming features sometimes make it easy to become distracted.)

This HiTune’s large, full keyboard makes this phone well received among texters as well. Whether you call this model a pocket PC, a PDA, or a smart phone, it has tons of standard features, including a built in 2.0 mega pixel digital camera and web cam, WiFi, Bluetooth, MP3, Java 2.0, and the ability to download and play Nintendo and Windows PPC games. It also has GPS navigation and en e-book reader. I particularly enjoy downloading e-books to read later while I have down time. I am now actually able to read a huge backlog that was stored on my computer before.

This phone is unlocked and tri band. It will work with most GSM carriers. No software or drivers are needed. You just insert your sim card and the 68 can read and install any information needed.

This clone is modern, sleek and streamlined. I think it looks like a cross between the Blackberry Curve and Pearl models.

Currently, the price is about $175, but this will probably come down over time as more become available. I predict it will sell well because it should appeal to a wide range of consumers.

Rick C Kern asked:




The Tracfone Motorola W376 now comes with BlueTooth 2.0 enabled. This phone is a GSM phone that works on AT&T or T-Mobile networks.  If you have good coverage in your area by AT&t then the phone you  get will be set to work on the At&T Network. 

The W376 looks like it is the little brother to the best selling Motorola Razr. The new W376g is thicker but narrower. The keyboard is the same flat design as the Razr. Both the Tracfone W376 and the Razr have the distinctive Motorola Chin.  The Chin makes these phones easier to hold on to for one handed texting.

The Moto W376g is a Single Rate Phone

Calls made anywhere in the United States are one unit per minute. You will only pay one unit per minute for local, long distance and roaming calls. Tracfone and Sister company NET10 are the only prepaid cell phone companies in the United States that have reasonable roaming rates. Most Prepaid phones do not offer roaming. If another prepaid company does offer roaming you will pay up to 60 cents per minute.

International Tracfone Calls

Calls to over sixty international areas will only cost you one unit per minute with the  W376g. Check out  International Calling at the Tracfone.com web site.  Most of Mexico, South America, and Canada can all be called for one unit per minute.

W376 texting

Tracfone W376g texting rates are .3 units per text in and out. This is a lot better than the .5 units per text on some of the older Tracfones.

Unlimited Double Minutes is standard on W376g

Tracfone has come out with a new bonus program. You can purchase a Double Minutes for Life card (DMFL) for $50 and install it on your phone. Then any time as long as you own that phone you will get twice the minutes [on|stated on the Tracfone Minute Card. This Unlimited Double minutes for life currently comes with your Moto W376g.

Battery life on the Tracfone W376g

The W376g uses the BQ50 Lithium Ion battery. This is a large Battery so the battery life is should be very good. The battery should last up to 10 days between charges. This depends on your usage and where you are.  If you are on the fringe of cell coverage your phone will work a lot harder to keep coverage and go through your charge quicker..

Tracfone Bluetooth Phone

The first Bluetooth enabled phone from Tracfone is the Motorola W376. You will now be able to use a Bluetooth 2.0 headset with your Motorola W376g. It is safer to drive totally hands free which you can do with the new phone

Web Access and Downloading Ring Tones

The web access allowed by Tracfone with their phones is pretty limited but that may be changing. Many options for searching the web just cannot be done yet.

Moto W376 Feel

The new W376 has a nice solid feel.  I like the keyboard and the heft of the phone. The W376 is the same size and feel as the W370 and the W375. It is big enough when unfolded it comfortably fits your face to talk (even if you have a big head). It easily fits into your pocket when folded.

Rae Edwards asked:




Successfully copying and improving upon the iPhone is what allowed CECT and other Chinese cell phone manufacturers to grab initial attention, but it is the performance of the innovative products that means they are here to stay.

Something very interesting is happening with the CECT line of clones right now. The newest models don’t even look that much like the iPhone. Suddenly consumers are starting to see silver models with full keyboards and texting capabilities. It seems that although consumers like the technology of the iPhone, not all consumers want their phones to look like exactly like the original. The CECT X2850 (or CECT U90 as it is sometimes called) is a perfect example of this.

Smaller and sleeker in design than many of the clones, the X2850 has a full keyboard on the bottom of the phone and enhanced handwriting recognition to appeal to texters.

This phone also has all of the bells and whistles that you would expect from CECT: a 2.2″ finger touch screen, and full support of SMS, MMS, WAP, MP3, MP4, and T-flash formats with full video, music and photo capabilities.

Although the advanced texting capabilities on this phone are wonderful, I believe where this phone really stands out is in it’s camera phone, which has several advanced features like continuous and delayed shooting, white balance and night mode. You are also able to adjust picture quality and size with only your fingers.

The CECT X2850 is fully completely compatible with U.S. GSM cell phone providers that use sim cards like T-mobile and Cingular, to name only a few. You don’t need any software with this phone. Just insert your sim card and it should work and recognize all of your information.

The X2850 is very attractively priced at about $100. It typically appeals to texters or consumers who value camera phone performance.

John Dulaney asked:




To this day, there are more than more than 690 GSM mobile networks across 213 countries and consists of 82.4% of all global mobile connections. According to statistics available there are more than 2 billion GSM mobile users in the world, with China having the largest users with more than 370 million, and Russia following with 145 million users. While US have 78 million, India has 83 million using the GSM service.

A mobile phone can be a bewildering affair for a traveler. It is mostly incompatibility with the network of your visiting country, since every country in the world has different frequency band of operation.

Almost all parts of the world operate on GSM technology, except USA and Canada. Originally GSM operated at a frequency of 900 MHz, which is being continuously upgraded and now works on 1,800 MHz service. With a GSM phone, you can access service in 212 different countries. Some of the mobile phones available in the United States and Canada operate on GSM, but most of them are of a different frequency band. The GSM service available in North America is of a totally different frequency of 1,900 MHz and sometimes 850 MHz, which is different from the standard of 1,800 MHz. Not all countries in the world use the standard 900/1,800 MHz GSM. The exceptions being, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, and some Central/South American countries, with some limited coverage of the standard GSM networks.

Today, mobile phones have become a part of daily living. We often wonder how we ever lived without them. Whether you are traveling on business or on a holiday, mobile phones offer incredible services during your journey. However, they also present some challenges, when you wonder if that mobile phone you have will work while you travel from one place to the other.

There are three bands on which the mobile transmission is based on, with different countries operating on a different frequency falling under different bands. Today, quad band mobile phones take away the fear in you, relieving you from that worry, if your mobile phone will work in UK.

The obvious convenience of having a mobile phone makes you feel safe where-ever you are, with the facility that it has to quick-access for help when you need it and talk to the people important to you. It is one of the most economical and essential life-long product in anyone’s life today. Think about those olden days when you had to make a call from your hotel room. Think about the bill that you paid, just for your telephone calls. Now you have a mobile phone, a partner to your daily life. You can already feel the difference. Today, many of these phones are being offered with exceptional plans that may include, free airtime, cheaper long distance charges and in some cases cheaper international roaming charges. In India, for example, service providers have started to offer life time incoming calls on pre-paid sim cards of your mobile. Realising such a benefit, you feel comfortable that atleast you are available on your mobile phone. Prices are dropping every month, which started with a huge investment when mobile phones were first introduced.

Let us look at why all mobile phones are not compatible.

There are two explanations to this reason. The first one being that all service providers in this world do not operate on the same radio frequency band and encoding services. Therefore, when you travel to UK, your phone might not be compatible with the kind of frequencies that the service providers offer.

The second point is a bit complicated. To enable a mobile phone from the United States to work in UK, the service providers in UK, or vice-versa, must have a cross-billing arrangement with one or more service providers in the other country. This cross-billing arrangement is a commercial deal between the service providers of the two countries, which results in allowing roaming in your mobile phone. In some cases the roaming facility in your phone, needs to be activated by your service provider in US. If this is the case, then, you have to have roaming enabled before you go out of the country. This arrangement falls under International Roaming. The same is the case with National Roaming. Therefore, you need to have such a phone, which would accept all the three bands the service providers operates on in this word, and such a phone is the one with quad band features. Dual band phones on the other hand would work anywhere in the world except the Unites states.

Let us look at some of the problems with mobile phones in the United States. If you are in US and you have a mobile phone which you would like to have the international roaming facility, your best bet would be to sign up with service provider who provides GSM. The two major GSM service providers in US are T-Mobile and Cingular, with the consideration that AT&T has now been merged with Cingular.

This sounds like a perfect solution. You now have one phone which works all over the world. If you have decided on such an arrangement, it must be what you want. But, you need to consider that GSM service is quite limited in US. That takes you back a bit. No, there is no solution for that. To have your way, you will have to maintain two mobile phones, one with a major established network in US and a second; having the GSM service with roaming features.

GSM is a state-of-art technology, offering fax capability and Short Messaging Service (SMS). Most of the service providers offer e-mail to SMS feature, making it possible to receive important announcements and information over your mobile phone, viz., receiving flight updates and breaking news alerts. Many offer quick connectivity to ISDN services, there by allowing fast data transmission. The latest generation offers Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS), which enables you to connect to a high-speed data communication channel, faster than 9,600 bps.

We have discussed the limitation of GSM services available in US vis-à-vis roaming. We have also said that in order to over-come this limitation and avail international roaming as well, you would have to maintain two mobile phones, one with a major established network in US and the second; having the GSM service with the roaming features. Instead of maintaining a second phone, mobile phone rental service is also available. There are many outlets who would rent you these phones with perhaps certain terms, viz., you would need to get your relevant sim card from them. To look into the prospects of mobile phone rentals you may like to visit this website http://www.planetomni.com/RENT_INFO.shtml which provides you with the details that you would need to have.

The GSM has made roaming between operators a very common affair, facilitating the users to carry their mobile in almost every part of the world. GSM is considered to be a second generation (2G) mobile phone system.