Network Building » Information

Tips for Buying Mobile Phone

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:31:45 +0000

You may already have a budget in mind as to how much you would like to spend. The size and features affect the price.

TALK TIME

Now come to the talk time, The talk time of the mobile phone is the number of minutes you can talk with a fully charged standard battery. The talk time with a standard battery varies between 100 minutes to 750 minutes. Approximately 700 mAh will be able to give you a talk time of 4 to 6 hours. A longer talk time allows you to go without recharging the batteries for longer.

BATTERY TYPE

There are 3 types of batteries available in the Indian and Pakistan market.

LITHIIUM POLYMER AND LITHIUM ION	NICKEL METAL HYDRITE
Slimmer larger power capacity.	Heavier and less power capacity
Does not discharge when phone is switched off	Discharges when the battery is not in use
Can be recharged without capacity reducing	Battery’s capacity reduces over time due to frequent recharging.
More expensive	More economical if your usage is low

PHONE SIZE

This defines the size of the phone. There are two mobile phones categories we have on the web site: Small (Palm Size) and Medium Size.

SMALL (PALM SIZE)

MEDIUM SIZE

Easy to carry, keep in a pocket or in a purse

Larger and bulkier than small phones ……….

If you are concerned about the size of your mobile phone, and need to carry it in your top pocket, you would prefer a Small Size phone.

OTHER FEATURES

FEATURE	WHAT IS IT?	WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU
Dual Band	A switch that allows you to switch between transmissions that are adopted by different countries	You cannot use a phone in a country where your GSM is not supported. If you are global traveler and would like to use your handset in different countries, you would need a phone with a dual band.
Enhanced Full Rate Speech (EFR)	Reduces the amount of background noise that gets transmitted along with your voice when you talk on the phone.	If you live in a noise-polluted city, this feature is a must.
General Packet Radio Service	Allows you to be continuously connected to higher capacity Internet-based services	You can use all the Internet applications like web browsing, email, chat, telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) over the mobile network.
Inbuilt Answering Machine	Allows you to record a personal message, which automatically answers calls that you were unable to receive and allows the caller to leave a verbal message for you.	You can retrieve these voice messages at your convenience.
Infrared Port	Enables wireless connections between the computer and the mobile phone devices	You can use IR to send and receive phone book entries (business cards) and reminder notes.
Internal Antenna and Battery	An in-built antenna and battery in the handset.	Makes the phone more compact and also gives the handset a very sleek and elegant look
Internal Vibrating Alert	This feature can be programmed to physically vibrate when a call is received.	Useful when you receive calls in places where you can’t keep the ringer on. For e.g. in a theatre, or in an important conference / meeting.
Multimedia Messaging Service	Allows you to send and receive rich media messages comprising of text, sounds, images and video to and from MMS capable handsets.	MMS will add colourful images, animations and sound clips to your messages.
PDA Enabled	Can do some functions of a PDA such as organising dates/contacts, memos, etc.	Enables you to carry out the functions of a PDA as well.
Picture Messaging	It is a graphic that can be used with a short message or used to replace a short message.	A creative way of communicating with your friends.
Short Message Services	With this service you can send and receive text messages to or from other mobile phone users	This is very useful when you need to send information to a person who is unable to answer your call or communicate with another mobile phone user.
Voice Dial	A voice recognition system that allows you to dial a telephone number stored in your phone memory by just saying the person’s name.	Voice dial is very convenient and useful in places where you cannot see the key pad or while driving. It also assists speedy dialing of telephone numbers

Home Networking – Wireless or Wired

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:29:26 +0000

There are several methods for networking your home or small office computers. The simplest and most cost effective home networks technologies we will look at today are Wired and Wireless networks and the Pro’s and Con’s of each.

Wired Networks

Wired networks are seen as the most stable and reliable form of networking by people as this technology has been around for a long time.

Wired networks are great to use when you have the space and ability to run network cables through your house. In return for this effort you get a secure and reliable network with good data transfer speeds. This means that you will be able to send information from one computer to another one quickly.

A wired network is seen as more secure as any malicious users will only be able to get into your systems through your external internet connection or by connecting a wire directly to your router, switch or hub. Even then this problem can be contained through the use of firewalls, sophisticated routers or in the later case by not letting strangers into your house who are trying to run a network cable to their machine.

A wired network is seen as more reliable as the signal is sent over wires and not broadcast over a relatively uncontrollable area. Your network speeds and quality are not affected by weather conditions, thickness of walls etc.

With a wired network you can expect speeds from between 10Mbps with older technology up to 1000Mbps with newer hardware. This allows for excellent data transfer speeds between machines allowing for fast sharing of data and files over your network.

The price for wired home networking hardware is extremely cheap as the technology has been around for a long time and there is a lot of competition from manufacturers keeping the prices down. You can get a basic router or network hub from £10 – £40 pounds that will allow you to share your internet connection and files across multiple machines. A basic network card should cost between £5-10 with the faster 1000Mbps cards costing from £5-£15 each.

Replacing faulty wiring can be tricky and expensive if you have hidden it away behind your walls. Another bad aspect of having wires is that each machine must have a wire running from it to the router or hub. This may be ok when you can have the wires hidden away in the bedroom or the office but what if you want to use your laptop in the middle of your kitchen or living room. Do you really want wires running across the floor causing potential trip hazards amongst other things?

Wireless

Wireless networking offers many great advantages. The biggest advantage is portability. You can take your wireless laptop from your living room to your kitchen to your bedroom and still have access to all of your files and internet. This is great for using recipies from the internet right down to doing a little work in front of the TV.

Another advantage of going wireless is that you do not have to hide lots of wires going between your machines and router. This makes everything look tidier and more clutter free whilst also removing potential trip hazards from lots of loose cabling.

A wireless connection can be affected by many outside factors that you must take into consideration. A wireless signal can be seriously affected by the thickness of your walls, floors and also how many other wireless connections are in your area. With thick floors and walls your signals can become distorted or even wiped out causing problems transmitting and receiving information.

There are solutions on the market to increase the power of your wireless transmitters and receivers which would increase connectivity issues in the event that they occur.

Security is not a problem as such for wireless as long as you properly secure your network. The simplest form of protection is to use something called a WEP key. A WEP key is used on both the computer and wireless router and acts as a code between the two machines to keep data encrypted. If someone does not have the key they should not be able to access your network. There are further options available depending on your chosen wireless router to increase the level of security.

By not securing your wireless network you are essentially leaving the front door of your network and internet connection open to anyone who wishes to connect using their own wireless equipped computers.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, both technologies serve the same purpose but with different pro’s and con’s. If you are looking for an easy clutter free solution with increase mobility then I would recommend attempting a wireless network setup as long as you ensure that you set at least WEP encryption to protect your computers and internet connection from unauthorised access.

If you are looking for a slightly more secure and reliable connection then go with a wired setup. A wired setup should bring you faster networking speeds with the disadvantage of having to have wires running between devices.