Millions of people in Canada and around the world use Cellular
Phones. They are such great gadgets -- with
a cell phone, you can talk to anyone on the planet from just
about anywhere!
What
would we do today without cellular phones?
Not so many years ago, cellular phones were a rare commodity
but today, nearly everyone has a handset. It is one of the
fastest growing sectors of the economy and there is still
a lot of room for growth.
There is a cellular phone for every need, style, and taste.
No matter what you need for features, shapes, color, or price,
you will can a cellular phone. Today cell phones are as good
as computers; you can even surf the Internet and send emails.
 You
can customize your cell phone in the most incredible ways:
color, display, new and exciting ring tones, faceplates, and
much more. You can make your cell phone totally different
from your friends' and you can use it to chat with your friends
in real time. You can even use it as your main telephone and
get rid of your regular landline.
You can also use your phone to play games, use it as an organizer,
a clock, an alarm and calculator, among others. While you
are walking around town, you can take pictures, send them
to your friends or save them for your blog. Some of the newest
handsets will allow to videoconference in real time so that
your friends can look at you while you're speaking to them.
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Its hard to imagine a life without cellular phones.
Companies are constantly trying to improve the technology
by adding new features to your cellular phone; in a few months,
today's cell phones will be a thing of the past.
Another important factor is cost: prices of the handset are
coming down all the time and providers are in a price war
to attract more customers. Phone bills, especially in Canada,
are extremely competitive with regular land-line providers
and more and more subscribers closing their land-line accounts
to opt in to more convenient wireless contracts.
Wherever you live, the chances are that you will have a choice
between a few major cellular phone providers. Typically four
or five, as well as a few smaller local players, will be competing
for you. Competition is fierce and companies are trying to
come up with promotional offers all the time. In Canada, we
have a smaller number of providers than in the United States
but, because of the geography, cellular phone penetration
is extremely high.
Here in Vancouver, BC, Canada, we have the choice between
4 major providers: Rogers AT&T, Bell Mobility, TELUS Mobility
and Fido.
Since Fido has been purchased by Rogers AT&T recently, there
are actually only 3 major providers, despite that Fido operates
as an autonomous company. Both providers use the GSM network.
Let's talk about some of the technical terms you're most
likely to encounter.
CDMA: Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a form of multiplexing
(not a modulation scheme) and a method of multiple access
that does not divide up the channel by time (as in TDMA),
or frequency (as in FDMA), but instead encodes data with a
special code associated with each channel and uses the constructive
interference properties of the special codes to perform the
multiplexing. CDMA also refers to digital cellular telephony
systems that make use of this multiple access scheme, such
as those pioneered by Qualcomm, or W-CDMA.
 CDMA
has since been used in many communications systems, including
the Global Positioning System (GPS) and in the OmniTRACS satellite
system for transportation logistics. The latter system was
designed and built by Qualcomm, and became the seed which
helped Qualcomm engineers to invent Soft Handoff and fast
power control, the necessary technologies that made CDMA practical
and efficient for terrestrial cellular communications. (from
wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cdma).
GSM: The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is
the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world.
GSM service is used by over 1.8 billion people across more
than 210 countries and territories [1]. The ubiquity of the
GSM standard makes international roaming very common between
mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their
phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs significantly
from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels
are digital, which means that it is considered a second generation
(2G) mobile phone system. This fact has also meant that data
communication was built into the system from very early on.
GSM is an open standard which is currently developed by the
3GPP.
From the point of view of the consumer, the key advantage
of GSM systems has been higher digital voice quality and low
cost alternatives to making calls such as text messaging.
The advantage for network operators has been the ability to
deploy equipment from different vendors because the open standard
allows easy inter-operability. Like other cellular standards
GSM allows network operators to offer roaming services which
mean subscribers can use their phones all over the world.
As the GSM standard continued to develop, it retained backward
compatibility with the original GSM phones; for example, packet
data capabilities were added in the Release '97 version of
the standard, by means of GPRS. Higher speed data transmission
has also been introduced with EDGE in the Release '99 version
of the standard. (from wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gsm).
Top North American providers are Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile,
Rogers Wireless and Fido.
So what network should you use?
GSM seems to be the most flexible solution but CDMA has a
better reception - if coverage is important to you (rural
areas) then CDMA is probably a better option.
You should also consider the fact that the majority of manufacturers
try to reproduce handsets for all networks. A minority of
companies however, like Nokia, have also concentrated on GSM
and CDMA phones only, or LG, for example, who have focused
on the CDMA network exclusively. These elements are to be
kept in mind.
If SMS (Short Message Service. A service for sending messages
of up to 160 characters, or 224 characters if using a 5-bit
mode, to mobile phones that use Global System for Mobile (GSM)
communication.) and roaming is important to you, that might
dictate which network you are going to use.
But again, take the time to evaluate each network, carrier,
handset, and, most especially, phone plans and costs. Remember
you will receive a bill every month and some networks will
allow to speak free within subscribers of the same networks.
That could be an incredible saving on your phone bill.
What about the features?
 Voicemail,
text messaging, email, data transfer (sending pictures to
your friends), adds up on your phone bill so make sure you're
doing your research before making a final decision, as you
are often locked into a 2/3 year contract. This is of course
if you want to save money in the handset and/or phone bill.
Most of the times if you are signing up a 3 year contract,
you can have the phone for free! That will save you hundreds
of dollars and that is not such a bad idea if the network
is reliable.
Consumer review websites should be consulted specifically
in Canada, as there are hundreds of hidden costs. Here on
the west coast and in Vancouver, BC, in particular, the competition
is fierce and the network providers will go the extra mile
in trying to get you on-board.
Switching providers is also an option, although costly at
times, with existing customers. That means that switching
carriers, as a difficult as it is to do, is a thing of the
past. Already present in the US and in Canada, cell phone
number portability will allow customers to switch from cellular
phone carrier to carrier to take advantage of the latest promotion
and/or discount while keeping your old phone number. If you
are going to take advantage of this option be careful with
extra/hidden charges.
This is only good news for consumers because cell phone carriers
will try their best to keep the fees low in order to keep
the customers.
A cell phone user doesn't always have to sign a contract
to use his/her handset as there are also a prepaid option.
Commonly called "pay-as-you-go" in Canada, it may take on
different names depending on the carrier: Fido calls it "Fidomatic"
while Telus calls it "Pay-and-Talk"
Alternatively, you could also purchase an "unlocked" cellular
phone and use whichever compatible carrier is available in
your area. That way you will not need to commit to a long
term contract and you own the phone. You can find this cell
phone from independent dealers and you normally activate them
with a month-to-month plan. Normally you will find the most
expensive phones under this category.
WHAT ABOUT WI-FI?
 Canadians
are jumping onboard the Wi-Fi phenomenon with a record pace.
Recent estimates predict that by 2008, Wi-Fi hardware equipment
and Wi-Fi integration services will exceed 900 milliols, with
shipments of 1.9 million base stations and 4.1 million access
cards.
Although he prediction is quite aggressive, the figures do
not even take into account the PC's that already have Wi-Fi
built in already and the ones that are coming to market.
Wi-Fi is not exempt from drawbacks"
- There are some major security headaches concerning the
use of your laptop at a local cyber café
- Oftentimes, Wi-Fi hotspots available to the public are
not fully reliable
- Gateway providers may not be too interested in offering
the very best hardware or routers
However the advantages of using Wi-Fi connectivity are exceptional:
- Free connectivity: you can bring your PDA, smartphone,
laptop or Palm device to a Wi-Fi hotspot and not worry about
any charge
- There are thousands of access points or Wi-Fi hotspots
installed by Rogers and Telus mobility in Canada - there
is virtually an Wi-Fi hotspot in any city in Canada and
Vancouver, BC in particular leads the nation for user per
capita.
Clearly benefits to this Wi-Fi phenomenon outweigh the drawbacks.
Wi Fi Roaming vs. Cell Phone Roaming
If you're making and receiving phone calls from you cellular
phone and you are outside of your home calling area, most
of the carriers will change their per minute fees which are
quite high. You want to check before using your cell phone
heavily while traveling.
That is why many subscribers are taking advantage of the
so called Wi-Fi roaming. If you subscribe to a Wi-Fi provider,
you can use your username and password to access any Wi-Fi
service on another network without having to signup up for
another Wi-Fi service. This will also be way cheaper too.
Here are some free Wi-Fi hotspot finders:
Free Hotspot Finder - http://www.wififreespot.com/
PC Hotspot finder - http://pcworld.jiwire.com/
Laptop Hotspot finder - http://laptopmag.jiwire.com/,
(Note: click on Wi-Fi finder when you land on the home page)
Finding a hotspot is relatively easy. Simply visit one of
the 3 websites above to find a free wi-fi public gateway access
point near your area. Fatport, for example, is a Vancouver
based wi-fi provider that uses roaming agreements with other
Wi-Fi providers.
This method allows Fatport subscribers access to over 4000
hotspots in North America.
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