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SIM card - The Subscriber Identification Module or Subscriber Identity Module C a "smart card" - holds all of a subscriber's personal information and phone settings. In essence, it is the subscriber's authorization to use the network. It is the chip inside a GSM phone with the information such as the phone number, personal security key and other data necessary for the handset to function. The card can be switched from phone to phone, letting the new phone receive all calls to the subscriber's number.
Prepaid - The term that describes payment in advance for airtime. When prepay or "pay as you go" cellular services were first introduced in Europe, in late1995, Western European Cellular penetration was just very low. It has since got to be popular. No one disputes the enormous contribution which "contract free", "commitment free" prepaid cellular services have made to this growth. The fact that over 60% of all cellular users in Western Europe are now connected to prepay plans, is a tangible demonstration of prepay cellulars impact. Prepaid cellular service lets you to stay connected without any monthly, contractual obligations therefore allowing more flexibility regarding when you will use your phone. It also prevents over-usage and therefore is more "worry free" than subscription service. While 60% of all European cell phone users have opted for prepaid cellular service, it is especially convenient for foreigners visiting those markets - whether they intend to stay for one week or six months.
GSM - GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communications. It is a digital technology that was originally developed in Europe. It then spread throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Rim. Today, GSM is the world's leading standard for cell phone technology. A GSM cell phone that functions in Paris will also function in Beijing, Tokyo or Sydney. GSM technology has many advantages. It provides excellent sound quality, high security levels for communication, international roaming, and many advanced services (such as data and fax capabilities). GSM phones need a SIM card in order to function. SIM stands for Subscriber Identity Module. This card determines your cell phone number, rather than the cell phone itself. Every time you change your SIM card, you will get a new cell phone number.
Unlocked and locked - Mobile phone unlocking SIMply involves removing the restrictive lock that networks place on mobile phones. Removing the lock is not illegal and once done will allow you to benefit from other networks services and increase the resale value of your phone.
SIMple, just try putting a SIM card (the small plastic card inside you mobile which is about the size of a postage stamp) from another network into your phone and switching it on, if you are able to make calls, congratulations, your phone is unlocked. On the other hand, if a message appears, saying "SIM card not accepted, insert correct SIM card" or SIMilar, it will need to be unlocked.
Airtime - The word often used to describe the actual usage of a wireless phone, also used to describe the amount of time used, i.e. 60 minutes of airtime.
Additional Airtime- additional talktime over the phone extending by recharge voucher.
Roaming - The ability to use networks overseas and cross geographical boundaries while using a single number and a single phone.
VoiceMail - The term used for mobile and cellular voice message services. Calls are diverted to voice mail when the user is unavailable or has the phone powered off. The phone alerts you to indicate the receipt of a message.
SMS- Abbreviated as SMS, the transmission of short text messages to and from a mobile phone, fax machine and/or IP address. Messages must be no longer than 160 alpha-numeric characters and contain no images or graphics.
Once a message is sent, it is received by a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which must then get it to the appropriate mobile device.To do this, the SMSC sends a SMS Request to the home location register (HLR) to find the roaming customer. Once the HLR receives the request, it will respond to the SMSC with the subscriber's status: 1) inactive or active 2) where subscriber is roaming. If the response is "inactive", then the SMSC will hold onto the message for a period of time. When the subscriber accesses his device, the HLR sends a SMS Notification to the SMSC, and the SMSC will attempt delivery.
The SMSC transfers the message in a Short Message Delivery Point to Point format to the serving system. The system pages the device, and if it responds, the message gets delivered. The SMSC receives verification that the message was received by the end user, then categorizes the message as "sent" and will not attempt to send again.
Satellite Phones- Where GSM is not available, or in areas where coverage may be limited, PandaSIM can provide you with a satellite phone which is SIMple to use and operates on a truly global scale.
GPS- The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS.
Bluetooth C A wireless connection that enables devices to exchange information.
CDMA - Short for Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems, such as GSM, that use TDMA, CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum. Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence. CDMA consistently provides better capacity for voice and data communications than other commercial mobile technologies, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given time, and it is the common platform on which 3G technologies are built.
CDMA is a military technology first used during World War II by English allies to foil German attempts at jamming transmissions. The allies decided to transmit over several frequencies, instead of one, making it difficult for the Germans to pick up the complete signal. Because Qualcomm created communications chips for CDMA technology, it was privy to the classified information. Once the information became public, Qualcomm claimed patents on the technology and became the first to commercialize it.
(D)AMPS - Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System which provides cellular coverage in North America wherever GSM is not available.
D-AMPS is designed to be compatible with the older analog AMPS technology, which is widely deployed in the U.S. TDMA is used as an enhancement to the AMPS network by the use of dual band AMPS / TDMA (or D-AMPS) phones. Use of these phones gives the widespread coverage of the AMPS networks along with some advantages of digital systems in areas where TDMA networks are available.
D-AMPS (Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service), sometimes spelled DAMPS, is a digital version of AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service), the original analog standard for cellular telephone phone service in the United States. Both D-AMPS and AMPS are now used in many countries. D-AMPS adds time division multiple access (TDMA) to AMPS to get three channels for each AMPS channel, tripling the number of calls that can be handled on a channel. D-AMPS is Interim Standard-136 from the Electronics Industries
Like AMPS, D-AMPS uses frequency ranges within the 800 and 900 Megahertz (MHz) electromagnetic radiation spectrum. Each service provider can use half of the 824-849 MHz range for receiving signals from cellular phones and half the 869-894 MHz range for transmitting to cellular phones. The bands are divided into 30 kHz sub-bands, called channels. The receiving channels are called reverse channels and the sending channels are called forward channels. The division of the spectrum into sub-band channels is achieved by using frequency division multiple access (FDMA). The time division multiple access processing (TDMA) is added to each sub-band channel created with FDMA to triple the number of channels available.
Although AMPS and D-AMPS originated for the North American cellular telephone market, they are now used worldwide with over 74 million subscribers, according to Ericsson, one of the major cellular phone manufacturers. D-AMPS is one of three digital wireless technologies that use TDMA. The other two are GSM and PDC. Each of these technologies interprets TDMA differently so they are not compatible. An advantage of D-AMPS is that it is easier to upgrade to from an existing analog AMPS network. An alternative to D-AMPS and the other two TDMA technologies is direct sequence code division multiple access (CDMA).
