Cell, or mobile, phones have dramatically increased the world's interconnectivity over the past few decades. They are portable, relatively reliable, and now include many functions that have nothing to do with communication. Cell phones are usually easy to learn and understand but some users, especially the elderly, may have trouble understanding all of the things that cell phones are now capable of. To make this easier, the basic functions of modern cell phones are listed below with short descriptions for each. Calling Calling is rather straightforward on any phone whether Read More

Many cell phone users remain confused on what it means to unlock a phone. Most commonly, this term is used to describe the process of removing restrictions placed on using a GSM cell phone by the manufacturer. These restrictions are intended to prevent the mobile phone from being used on competing cell phone carriers or to limit what applications can be installed on the phone. As a result, if the consumer desires to use their phone outside of the local coverage area, high roaming charges can result. These charges only Read More

Predictive dialer software is designed to automatically dial the correct number of telephone calls to match the pattern of available call center personnel. Without predictive dialing software, an outbound call center will have to wait between phone calls until another person answers the phone. This can be quite expensive in terms of lost productivity. With a predictive dialer, a new phone call should be available as soon as the call center agent hangs up with the last phone call. Predictive dialer software accomplishes this by forecasting how many telephone calls Read More

Cell phone frequencies are the frequency ranges within the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band that are designated for cell phone use. Bluetooth devices, wireless networks, and television signals also use this frequency band. Although cellular phone systems divide cities and geographic areas into smaller cells of coverage, it allows for a fair amount of frequency reuse across the network. This ultimlately permits significantly more cell phone users to talk simultaneously on a network. How Are Cell Phone Networks Designed? Typically, a cell phone service provider is assigned up to 832 Read More

A Proctor Test Set is a tool used by telco personnel to diagnose problems with phone lines. You call the Proctor Test Set number and press buttons on a touch tone phone to active the tests you select. For more information, visit the Proctor web page at http://www.proctorinc.com and look at the 51200-S Telephone Test System. What is a Proctor Test Set in my area? If your NPA is not listed try common numbers such as 111 or 117. NPA Telephone Number Geography 805 111 Bakersfield/Santa Barbara, CA 909 117 Read More

When dealing with a wet phone, it is important to act quickly. Few phone companies offer a warranty on wet phones and have gone as far as to place a "wet strip" on the phone that changes colors when it has gotten wet. What this means is that the wet strip will allow the company to know that the phone was damaged by water and therefore, they don't have to give you a new phone. Fortunately, if you act quick — which happens to be the first and most important Read More

Palm Treo cell phones which run on GSM networks are often “locked” by the GSM carriers so that they cannot be used on another GSM carriers network. Unlocking can be done on GSM-based Treo phones such as the 650, 680, and 750. Unlocking does not apply to CDMA-based Treo phones such as the 700w. The Treo Unlocking Urban Legend There is a persistent, but incorrect, rumor on the Internet that you can unlock your Treo by pressing the key sequence *#*#1234# and then pressing the center D-pad button. The Treo Read More

Calling Number Delivery (CND), better known as Caller ID, is a telephone service intended for residential and small business customers. It allows the called Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) to receive a calling party's directory number and the date and time of the call during the first 4 second silent interval in the ringing cycle. Caller-ID Parameters The data signaling interface has the following characteristics: Link Type: 2-wire, simplex Transmission Scheme: Analog, phase-coherent FSK Logical 1 (mark) 1200 +/- 12 Hz Logical 0 (space) 2200 +/- 22 Hz Transmission Rate: 1200 Read More

Cell phone cloning refers to the act of copying the identity of one mobile telephone to another. This is usually done to make fraudulent telephone calls. The bill for the calls go to the legitimate subscriber. This made cloning very popular in areas with large immigrant populations, where the cost to “call home” was very steep. The cloner is also able to make effectively anonymous calls, which attracts another group of interested law breakers. Cell phone cloning started with Motorola “bag” phones and reached its peak in the mid 90’s Read More

Tip and Ring are telephony slang for the two wires which make up the electrical circuit used for telephone wiring. Tip is the nickname for the electrically positive wire and Ring is the nickname for the electrically negative wire. Tip is the ground side, which is positively charged, and Ring is the battery side, which is negatively charged, of a telephone circuit. The tip is synchronized with the office of the telephone company. Ring carries -48 volts of DC voltage when in an idle or on-hook condition. The grouping of Read More