Cellphone Terms Demystified

PCS, QoS, TDMA, WAP. Are you scratching your head in confusion because you don’t have a clue what any of these abbreviations or acronyms mean? You’re not alone. Cellular terminology is rife with these terms. In this article we’ll explain some of the most prevalent acronyms and terms you’re likely to encounter in conversations about cell phones.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth technology uses short range radio frequencies to wirelessly connect devices such as PDAs, mobile phones, and computers. Devices that are within range to receive the frequency can communicate as long as they have Bluetooth technology built-in.
For example, if your mobile phone has Bluetooth capabilities, you can use it with a wireless headset. And if your computer or laptop uses Bluetooth, you can use wireless Bluetooth keyboard with your either device.

BSC (Base Station Controller)

Together with the BTS (Base Transceiver Station), the BSC links traditional wired telephone networks and wireless devices by managing frequency assignment and carrying out radio signal functions for the BTS. The BSC can connect with multiple BTSes at once.

BTS (Base Transceiver Station)

Better known as the Base Station, the BTS communicates with cell and PCS (Personal Communication Service) phones, covering one wireless service cell location, and comprises the radio transmitter and receiver. More than one BTS can connect with the BSC at once.

Cell

The cell is the physical geographic coverage area of one network’s BTS. Cells usually cover about 10 square miles, although to increase coverage density, they can accommodate macrocells, microcells, and picocells. The cell is composed of a base station that includes a tower and radio equipment usually housed in a small structure.

CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access)

CDMA (a form of direct sequence spread spectrum communication) is a digital cellular, multiple-access technique defined in IS-95 and IS-2000 by QUALCOMM. CDMA was originally used in WWII by the British allies to thwart transmission. By transmitting over several frequencies rather than just one, CDMA uses the full available spectrum of frequencies for its users. CDMA boasts better voice and data communication capacity than other commercial mobile technologies, permitting more subscribers to connect simultaneously.

Circuit Switching

Circuit switching guarantees a dedicated line connection for transmission between two parties. It works best when you need to quickly send data that must also arrive in the same order it was sent (for instance live audio and video).

EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution)

EDGE is a recent enhancement to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) giving it the ability to handle greater data rates than normally offered to users of the GSM spectrum allowing mobile providers to deliver multimedia and broadband applications to cellular users.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)

The most widely used of the digital wireless technologies (TDMA [Time-Division Multiple Access], GSM, and CDMA), GSM also is the digital mobile telephone system used predominantly outside the United States (in Europe and globally). Operating at 900MHz or 1,800MHz frequencies, GSM uses a variation of TDMA and digitizes and compresses data, sending it along a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot.

iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network)

Motorola’s iDEN is wireless communications technology that integrates (in a single network) the capabilities of two-way radios, alphanumeric pagers, data/fax modems, and digital cellular telephones. iDEN is based on the TDMA and GSM structures and operates in the 800MHz, 900MHz, and 1.5GHz bands.

MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)

MMS, like SMS (Short Messaging Service), is a means for sending messages form one mobile device to another. It is considered the new standing in mobile messaging because you can use it to not only send text, but also images (JPEG, GIF), audio (MP3, MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface]), and video (MPEG). (Including from mobile phone to mobile phone, as well as from mobile phone to email address.) An MMS message has no size restrictions and therefore requires a 3G (third generation) network to send larger messages.

Packet Switching

Packet switching is a method in which a device divides data into individual packets before sending the data to a final destination. Although packets travel different routes, the device receiving the data reassembles the packets into the original transmission once everything arrives. Most WANs (widearea networks) are packet-switched based because they are more efficient for sending email and Web pages that don’t rely on real-time transmissions.

PCS (Personal Communications Service)

PCS is a completely digital wireless telephone service that operates at the 1,900MHz frequency. Usable internationally, PCS service is part of the current trend toward digital technologies that are expected to encompass digital wireless cable, digital video from broadcast satellites, digital television, and digital cameras.

QoS (Quality Of Service)

QoS (as it relates to wireless terminology) refers to the assessment of a network’s ability to provide service to network traffic over a variety of technologies. The aim of QoS is to establish priority, including dedicated bandwidth, controlled jitter and latency, and to reduce exhibits of loss while ensuring that providing priority to one flow does not result in other flows failing.

Roaming

Roaming refers to the ability of a cell phone user to accept and make telephone connections on a network outside of his home network. Roaming can only occur when the user’s home network and the visited network have previously established an invoicing structure that lets them invoice the user.

RF (Radio Frequency)

A host of wireless applications and technologies rely on RF field propagation. Within the electromagnetic spectrum, radio frequency refers to any of the frequencies associated with radio wave generation. Electromagnetic fields are created and propagate through space when radio frequency current is sent to an antenna.

SIM (Subscriber Identity Module)

A SIM is a small smart card containing programs and data, which has the A3 and A8 algorithms implemented in it. The SIM contains important user data, including the user’s International Mobile Subscriber Identity, and can also store user-defined data such as address and phone book entries. An important factor for some GSM users is the ability to move the SIM from one mobile station to another, facilitating upgrades.

SMS (Short Message Service)

While the short message described here cannot exceed 160 characters, the short message service offers a convenience delivery method for messages over mobile networks and can be considered a global mobile data service. When you send a message from one mobile device (SMS even supports roaming, both nationally and internationally), the text is stored in the central short message center, which is part of the SMS. The message is then forwarded to the destination mobile device. If the recipient is unavailable when the message is sent, the message is stored until it is sent later. If the sender chooses to do so, he may request a return receipt, whereby the service notifies him if the message sent was indeed delivered to the intended recipient. SMS uses signaling channels as opposed to dedicated channels, which means you can send and receive messages simultaneously with data, voice, and/or fax services using GSM.

TDMA (Time-Division Multiple Access)

TDMA is a digital, wireless technology that divides cellular channels into three time slots, thereby increasing load capacity. The technology was developed to boost how much data is conveyed over digital cellular telephone communications. D-AMPS (Digital-American Mobile Phone Service), GSM, and PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) all use a form of TDMA.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)

UMTS aims to establish reliable, global networks that will support a broad range of voice, data, and multimedia wireless technologies. The stateof- ]the-art 3G wireless telephone system implemented in Europe, UMTS carries out wireless transmission in the 2GHz frequency and permits roaming on a global scale along with personalized features and will instantly move data over numerous networks. Depending upon location, UMTS achieves multimedia data speed rates of 144Kbps (kilobits per second) for vehicular users, 384Kbps for pedestrian users, and 2Mbps (megabits per second) for use in buildings.

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)

WAP is a secure specification that supports most wireless networks in use worldwide. WAP enables users to instantly access data via many wireless handheld devices such as mobile phones, two-way radios, smartphones, and pagers. Although all OSes support
WAP, those engineered especially for handheld devices include PalmOS, Windows Mobile, and JavaOS. WAP makes minimal demands on memory and CPU power because it doesn’t
contain many of the more complex functions typically found in other scripting languages.
_____________
by Douglas Schweitzer, Sc.D.

Read more...

Microsoft Office 2003 Tips and Tweaks

One great thing about Microsoft Office 2003 is that it’s jam-packed with useful features. Of course, digging through Help to find out about these features can take a lot of time—time you would probably rather spend doing other things. To make it easy for you to become more efficient in using Office, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite ways to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

by Linda Bird.

Organize Your Stuff (Excel)

Like a well-organized set of file folders, each Microsoft Excel file (a workbook) includes a set of individual worksheets: Think of an Excel workbook as a notebook and the individual worksheets as pages in the notebook. This arrangement is great because you can use it to organize your data. For example, you can track production or sales for a year by using a worksheet for each month but keeping all the worksheets together within a workbook. By default, each new workbook file includes three worksheets. You can
switch between sheets by clicking the tabs at the bottom of Excels’ application window and then enter data and formulas in each worksheet.

Add & Subtract (Excel)

If you feel limited by the three worksheets included in each file, you can add (or delete) more sheets. In fact, to give you maximum flexibility, Excel allows you to create a workbook with one to 255 worksheets in it.

To add a worksheet, right-click any visible worksheet tab and then choose Insert from the tab’s shortcut menu. On the General page of the Insert dialog box, double-click the Worksheet icon. The newly inserted sheet will be placed to the left of the selected worksheet.

To remove a worksheet, display it and choose Edit and then Delete Sheet. Alternatively,
you can right-click a worksheet tab and then choose Delete from the shortcut menu.
This is NOT an undoable command, so if the worksheet includes data, you’ll be prompted
to confirm your action.

Give Your Worksheets A New Identity (Excel)

Face it. The generic names associated with each worksheet (Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and so on) are pretty dull. Luckily, you can assign descriptive names that more clearly indicate what information is contained in each sheet, such as First Quarter or Eastern Region. To rename a worksheet, double-click the sheet’s tab. Type a new name and then press ENTER.

Reorganize Your Worksheets (Excel)

If you don’t like the order in which your Excel worksheets are arranged, you can change it. Right-click the tab for the worksheet you want to move and then choose Move Or Copy from the shortcut menu. In the displayed Move Or Copy dialog box, indicate where you want to place the selected sheet and then click OK. As an alternative, you can drag a worksheet tab to a new location. When the black triangle is where you want to place the sheet, release the mouse to drop the sheet in the new location.

Color Code Your Work (Excel)

Besides adding, deleting, and rearranging worksheets, you can color-code Excel’s worksheet tabs. This can help you categorize your sheets and make it easier for you to find the information you need.
To change the color for a worksheet tab, right click the tab and then choose Tab Color from the shortcut menu. In the displayed Format Tab Color dialog box, click a color block, and then choose OK.

Use Formulas In Word

OK, so Word isn’t known as a calculation powerhouse like Excel. But you can still run simple calculations within the program without pulling out your calculator. To do this, create a table and enter your numerical data in a row or column. Place your insertion point in the last cell in the row or column for which you want to run your calculations and then choose Table and Formula. Word automatically assumes that you want to add up the data in the adjacent cells and enters a formula in the Formula dialog box, such as =SUM(LEFT) or =SUM(ABOVE). Click OK to enter the formula in the cell.
Unlike Excel, Word doesn’t automatically recalculate a formula if you change data in the cells that feed into it. To recalculate the formula cell’s data, right-click the formula directly and then choose Update Field from the shortcut menu.

Read more...

Make easy money doing online surveys

This is an easy way to earn money online simply by doing surveys. If you are interested, read the following:

This site pays you for doing online surveys The front page says, that you get surveys from $1 to $25 per survey. However, on an average, I get a survey of around $3 to $4. Plus they also give you $1.25 for every friend you refer to the site. Most of the surveys are on other sites (mainly other survey sites), and you have to give your feedback about them in 3-4 sentences.

Overall Rating: This is a good site for someone who wants to make some easy money. The best part is that you need not to spend a lot of time, and can complete most of the surveys as per your own convenience. I will give 8.5 to it on scale of 10. They have a lot of scope to improve, and I expect them to do well in near future.

Final Words: One of the better survey sites, I have seen in recent time. Go for it registration is free, and as of now, site accepts all international Paypal members!

Click here to register ==> http://tinyurl.com/22vtjr

Once you register and earn some money, please comment in this post about your impression of the site.

Read more...

Yet another paycheck by Adbrite

Tuesday, 10 September 2007,

5 days after processing, I received another check from Adbrite. This time I scan the check beautifully to show you, as I bought a scanner from the money of previous check.

You can also sign up for Adbrite and start to earn money.

Sign up here:

Read more...