Mobile Phone Packages, Data, Wifi,

SIMs, Email, Internet, GSM system

May 2016

CANNOCK CHASE U3A

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY GROUP

Barry K James, PhoneSIMSsystemRevC.ppt

A POTTED HISTORY

� Radio Telephones (in-car) in limited areas. [Zero G]

� A T & T in USA in 1946, covered a tiny area.

� Operator connected at first to the PSTN.

� Used powerful base station transmitters (30m).

� Proposal for hexagonal cells by Bell Labs in 1947.

� Martin Cooper of Motorola. Demo in 1973 with handheld

mobile brick to a landline subscriber telephone.

� Had to stay within cell for whole call.

� In 1983, the first mobile phones went on sale in the

U.S. at almost $4,000 each from Motorola.

� [1G] analogue cell phones. Any receiver could hear call.

� Used concept of call “handover” from cell to cell (dropouts).

� In 1990’s 2G digital services were born; named “GSM”.

� Used high frequency bands, 900MHz. SMS text invented.

THE GSM (SIM) SYSTEM

� Mobile System Standards

� GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G, CDMA (USA), W-CDMA (Japan).

� GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communication (UK/EU).

� CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access (USA)

� Both GSM and CDMA in the USA are not interchangeable

� 2G was the first digital system, allowed voice text and email.

� 3G allowed Internet, TV, video conferencing, and 20x faster than 2G.

� 4G is very fast data for internet streaming (not all phones capable).

� SIM cards

� SIM contains the IMSI and authentication numbers which:

� Relays encrypted data to grant access to the network.

� Identifies the number, network and country for roaming

� Can transfer SIM between phones.

� IMEI number (in phone)

� IMEI number identifies phone. Lost or stolen status

� *#06# on the phone keyboard, or may be located in the battery case.

MOBILE (GSM) RADIO NETWORK PRINCIPLE

Base Station

cells linked

together to

route calls

and provide

“handover”

@Hotmail@BTinternet

PHONE FEATURES

� Types of Phone (today)

� Conventional phones (older 12 key).

� Use their own limited maker operating systems.

� Small displays and difficult to use for the internet.

� Smart phones (with touch screens)

� Internet and email access via the mobile network for

iPhones, Android & Windows phones.

� WiFi radio capability for internet and email access +

Wifi sharing, hotspots.

� Bluetooth capability for sending music or interacting

with a car stereo.

� Will probably have a slot for a microSD card. Avoids

using phone memory for photos and music.

� Will probably have positioning systems using GPS or

the GSM network.

� May have cameras front & rear.

� May have FM radio, music player.

PHONE OPERATION

� All smartphones work by tapping application Icons.

� Made to look more like a PC. Some “apps” installed.

� More applications are available from:

� Windows (Microsoft) store

� Android (Google) store

� iPhone (Apple) store

� Email icons

� Save attachments!

� Internet browser Icons, apps available

from the store

� Loads of useful apps to install:

SETTINGS

� Important to know what can be set or

setup:

� Press “Settings” icon

� Get acquainted with options:

� Setup email

� Switch off GSM or data

� Flight mode

� Change sounds

� Join a WiFi signal

PHONE CONTRACT TYPES

� Pay as you go SIM or Phone (using top-up)

� Super expensive, especially internet and call rates.

� Contracts

� New Phone with three allowances

� Usually 1-2yrs, and expensive per month, to pay for the phone.

� SIM card only with three allowances.

� Use in existing phone or buy new phone.

� Fixed term (1 year), or Rolling month SIM contract.

� Data only SIM card. Data allowance only.

� All contract types allow number transfer.

� Locked Phones

� May be locked to a network provider as part of contract.

� The give-away can be the logo printed on the phone.

� Can usually get them unlocked at a price.

� Ideally get an unlocked phone (SIM-free) so can move provider.

CONTRACT ALLOWANCES

� Both SIM and Phone contracts have allowances:

� Voice minutes: usually 300 – 500 mins+

� Texts: usually 500 - 3000

� Data (Internet) usually 250MB to 500MB+Per Month

�What can you do with your DATA allowance?

� Email, (Webmail or Email App).

� Internet browsing, Music, Video and TV streaming.

� (But videos, music and TV can be data hungry – next slide).

� Apps, such as weather, social media, skype etc

� WiFi Sharing to another device (to laptop or tablet)

� See if you have an app from your phone provider to give

you an allowance update.

DATA CONSUMPTION GUIDE BY ACTIVITY

Activity Data consumption

One hour of web browsing 10 - 25MB

Download a document 2MB

One hour of Facebook 20MB

Download a music track 4MB

Stream 30 minutes of YouTube 175MB

Download a non-HD film 700MB

Download an HD film 4GB

Stream one hour of non-HD video 250MB

Stream one hour of HD video 2GB

Stream one hour of music or radio 150MB

Remember: 1. 1GB (gigabyte) = 1000MB (megabytes)

Above amounts are approximate.

2. This data use only gets subtracted

from your allowance when there is no

WiFi connection.

3. Allowance might be 500MB/month

DATA CAN GO ONE OF TWOWAYS

� If your phone has WiFi capability & connected:

� Within range of WiFi, no data allowance will be used.

� Out of range of WiFi, your data allowance will be

used.

� If your phone has no WiFi capability:

� You will use your data allowance all the time you are

on the internet or sending email.

Base Station

WHAT HAPPENS IN RANGE OFWIFI

@Hotmail

@TalkTalk

@BTinternet

Shops, trains

WiFi Hotspots

Voice & Texts still

go via GSM

WiFi uses no

data allowance

PROVIDERS, & PIGGY BACKING

� Providers

� 4 main UK operators who have basestations are:

� O2, Three, EE, Vodaphone

� Piggy Backing

� Other operators piggy back on the big four:

� Tesco, Giff Gaff, TalkTalk, Virgin

� E.g. Tesco piggy back on O2, Virgin use EE.

� Watch out for charges for using their customer

services phone number (Tesco does).

NETWORK COVERAGE

� Coverage

Checker

� Check Provider

coverage by post

code on website

� But don’t

assume their

map is correct

� Try someone

else’s phone at

your post codes

MAKING AWIFI HOTSPOT FROM YOUR PHONE

� Most smartphones have capability to act as a localised

WiFi for access to the internet for a laptop or tablet.

� Uses data allowance.

� Useful in car.

� Go to settings, and “internet sharing”or “Wifi hotspot”

or equivalent.

� Phone will give you a broadcast name.

� Setup password and switch on sharing.

WiFi

radio

signal

BLUETOOTH – WHAT’S THAT?

� Bluetooth is a radio signal, similar to WiFi, but:

� Has the capability to send music to a bluetooth speaker.

� Interact with a car radio when making or receiving phone calls.

� Transmit to bluetooth compatible earpiece.

� Connect to devices without wiring.

� Has a short range of only ~5m at 2.4GHz.

� Need to “pair” phone to another device.

� If your car does not have bluetooth capability:

� Can buy a separate bluetooth hands free car repeater.

� E.g., Parrot or buddy makes it hands free.

� Battery drains quickly if left switched on

OVERSEAS USE

� Roaming charges� Outside UK, phones will roam for a service and charge, (cheaper in the EU

until 2017 then will be scrapped in 2017 for EU only).

� You can be charged for making, receiving calls or voicemail & data use.

� Your allowance may include EU countries, but…

� Beware of being on borders of countries not in contract.

� Turkey, Northern Cyprus and Egypt not in EU agreements.

� Switch off roaming if you can.

� Switch off Data Connection if you can.

� Use free hotel WiFi for the internet if you have to use it.

� Pay beforehand for an “add-in” roaming package to minimise hefty bills (can

be £1000’s).

� Cap your allowances if you can with your provider (can be around £40 for

most providers).

� Switch off voicemail before leaving the UK, or be charged whilst abroad.

� Be really careful of charges outside the EU.

� Be careful about apps that work in the background, costing loads.

OPERATORS CHARGES ABROAD

� “Three” include voice, texts and data abroad from your

allowance, but only TO the UK from a Feel at Home

country, like Spain. Otherwise 17p per minute voice, 6p

text. Data not known.

� EE. Cannot use data unless agreed package. £2 per day for

unlimited calls and texts in EU countries only. 50MB data

costs £3 per day in EU.

� O2 caps data use at £48 within EU. Spending on data for

customers travelling outside Europe is capped at £40 per

month. Buy a bundle and you get unlimited data to use

within the EU for a daily outlay of £1.99.

� Vodaphone. Automatically opted in to a monthly data-

spending limit of £41.29. An additional daily charge of £5

per month applies for UK calls, text and data allowances

while abroad.

A FEW DO’S & DONT’S

� Don’t attach a photo to a TEXT. It costs

25p each time. EMAIL the photo for free.

� Do switch off roaming, data and voicemail

before going out of the country.

� Do monitor your allowances.

� Switch off phone when abroad to avoid

background data charges.

THE TECHNICAL BIT….PART 1

� The GSM system uses low power base

stations in cells around a mile apart or less

to capture as many calls as poss.

� Most 3G networks in Europe operate in the

2100 MHz frequency band, 4G uses 2.6Ghz,

but O2 use 800Mhz. (old TV-band)

� Phone has to transmit and receive at the

“same” time using the same antenna. This is

how in simple terms.

� Phones send a stream of digital data in “1s”

and “0s” representing your voice.

� This is encrypted for security.

THE TECHNICAL BIT…PART 2

� There could be many phones working at the same time

in any one cell.

� GSM has to divide calls into 8 timeslots for individual

phones.

� These eight radio timeslots are grouped into a frame

and called TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access).

� There is a radio channel for both Transmit and

Receive.

� The frame duration or

repetition rate is 4.615 ms

(buzzing near radio).

� As you travel between cells, the system monitors your

signal and “hands over”, based on signal strength.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN EMAIL PROTOCOLS…

� IMAP is short for Internet Message Access Protocol

� POP translates to Post Office Protocol.� What Are The Advantages Of POP?

� Being the original protocol, POP follows the simplistic idea that only one client requires

access to mail on the server and that mails are best stored locally. This leads to the

following advantages:

� Mail stored locally, i.e. always accessible, even without internet connection

� Internet connection needed only for sending and receiving mail

� Saves server storage space

� Option to leave copy of mail on server

� Consolidate multiple email accounts and servers into one inbox

� What Are The Advantages Of IMAP?

� IMAP was created to allow remote access to emails stored on a remote server. The idea

was to allow multiple clients or users to manage the same inbox. So whether you log in

from your home or your work computer, you will always see the same emails and folder

structure since they are stored on the server and all changes you make to local copies

are immediately synced to the server.