In order to participate fully in today's society, whether for work, social life or entertainment, it has become increasingly important to be able to keep in touch while on the move. This buyer's guide illustrates the huge range of choice in products and communication services that are now available. We will explain some of the new technologies and provide some guidance to help you shop wisely.
There are now more mobile phones in the UK than there are people, making the mobile handset by far the most familiar device for keeping in touch on the move. Mobile handsets have long enabled voice calls to be made to other phone users.
In addition, in the UK alone, more than one billion SMS text messages are sent each week. SMS is an enormously popular service that is readily available to deaf and hearing people alike throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world.
Beyond this of course, even the most basic mobile phone normally provides the same facilities as a watch, an alarm clock, an address book, a calculator and a simple games machine, making it unnecessary to carry those around too.
In recent years, mobile handsets have sprouted many additional useful communication features, such as the abilities to:
Also, communication features are increasingly available for portable computers. Such capabilities are often built into laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), or they can be easily added on.
Telephony, radio, television and computing technologies continue to converge. This means that services can be obtained in many new ways, utilising transmission methods that might at first sight appear surprising. For instance it is possible to make phone calls by Wi-Fi using a wireless hotspot such as can be found in many coffee shops, stations and offices. Similarly, you might listen to a live radio station that is half-way round the world using a mobile phone's GPRS Internet connection, or watch a live TV programme that is being broadcast direct to your mobile phone. We will discuss these and other possibilities.
The first steps in choosing the right products and services are to understand what capabilities are available and to prioritise those that are the most important for you.
Of course, if you buy a product with more features than you really need, it is likely to be larger and heavier to carry around and be more expensive. Also the complexity of all its features might make it harder to use. It can also be a mistake to choose the very smallest handset, because tiny devices can be harder to operate and they are often more fragile.
Today's technology is fundamentally capable of keeping everyone in touch by voice, text or video wherever they are. Yet suitable products and services are not always available, accessible or affordable. Technology does not exist in isolation, and legislative and regulatory shortcomings can often stand in the way of realising the types of products and services that would help deaf and hard of hearing people in their communication needs. RNID will continue to work to change this.
This is about exactly which technologies are used to get stuff (phone conversations, text, pictures or whatever) to and from your mobile device. Although you don't need to have in-depth knowledge of the many transmission technologies that can be used to connect mobile devices, an understanding of the basics will help you choose the most appropriate equipment and method of connection.
Sometimes the cheapest and fastest connections can be set up by making a direct connection using a cable, plugging into a home broadband network or the USB socket on a computer. If your supplier and your handset permit, you may be able to download your music or video clips direct to your handset or player, so that you can later enjoy them on the move.
But to be able to use most other facilities anywhere, some type of connection without wires is required. There are many such wire-less or wire-free technologies:
Infra-red communication is commonly used by TV remote controls and cordless headphones, eliminating the need for trailing wires. But it can also be used to send pictures and other data over short distances between other electronic devices such as some mobile handsets. Like visible light, infra-red travels in straight lines, so it requires the communicating devices to be lined up with each other, which is not always practical on the move. Infra-red can also take longer than other communications methods to send data.
Bluetooth is a short-range radio communication system that does not require devices to be within line-of-sight of each other. One of its earliest uses was to enable hands-free headsets to control and communicate with mobile handsets. The mobile handset can be left safely in a pocket or bag without trailing wires. Bluetooth is often used for communication between a computer and its keyboard, mouse and printer. Also a laptop computer or PDA can use a Bluetooth link to an Internet-connected mobile handset.
Equipment that carries the mark "Wi-Fi certified" provides two-way wireless communication, with a typical range of up to 95 metres outdoors or 32 metres indoors. Wi-Fi enables local area networks (LANs) to be constructed without the need for network cabling to portable equipment. In the home, a Wi-Fi wireless access point is often used to connect computers, PDAs and mobile handsets to broadband routers, so that they can connect to each other and the public Internet without cables. Wi-Fi is also provided in many coffee shops, stations and trains and in a growing number of public access points in high streets and libraries. Commercial wireless access points typically charge a fee before you connect or require you to make a purchase, while some councils and train operators offer free use of their wireless access points. For Internet access, it is often considerably cheaper to use a public Wi-Fi access point than it is to connect through your mobile network operator.
Here we consider one-way radio broadcasts, where the same content is broadcast to all.
Some mobile handsets include FM radio receivers so you can listen to live BBC and commercial radio programmes on the move. These are the same broadcasts that you pick up on your familiar home portable radio set. Although they cost nothing to receive, they do depend on you being within coverage of the broadcast radio signal.
Although the demand for the ability to watch television on the move is not yet proven, a new technology called Digital Video Broadcast Handheld (DVB-H) is already being trialled. Before TV on mobiles could become widespread, new broadcast frequency spectrum would need to be allocated; also operators, broadcasters, regulators and handset suppliers would need to reach commercial agreements. Providing readable subtitles for small screens may well prove challenging.
Many new mobile handset models incorporate navigation systems to display a map showing where you are. Your handset tries to find your position by calculating the delays between precise timing signals sent from an array of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites in orbit around the Earth. If signals cannot be received from a sufficient number of satellites, some handsets use transmissions from the nearest mobile base-stations to calculate your position.
Although mobile phone networks were originally designed just to carry voice telephone conversations, today's networks are capable of carrying far more types of media using a wide range of communication technologies.
In the UK, there are five interlinked mobile networks, belonging to Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3. These same networks are also used by many mobile "virtual" network operators (MVNOs), such as Virgin Mobile and Tesco, which each offer their own branded services.
Such second and third generation (2G and 3G) mobile networks are commonly used to carry voice calls and SMS texts. A 2G handset will be in reach of at least one network in almost all populated areas and in much of the rest of the UK. 3G networks are capable of sending data at faster rates, but this is not particularly important if you only wish to make voice calls. The coverage of 3G networks is not yet as complete: 3G handsets have to use the slower 2G networks when no 3G coverage is available. The mobile wireless signal can of course reach at least some way inside most buildings.
You can find out where mobile base stations are located by checking Ofcom's Sitefinder website.
Also you can check coverage at any postcode location:
Most modern mobile handsets are able to work on at least two frequency bands ("dual-band" handsets), so they could be used on most of the UK mobile networks. But because the networks subsidise many new handsets, you may find that your handset has been locked to work on just one mobile network. You can usually pay a fee to get the handset unlocked to use on other networks.
Note that in North America, not all mobile handsets and networks provide SMS. Also their mobile or "cellular" phones transmit and receive using different frequencies from those in the UK, so if you are travelling to North America, you could take a suitable "tri-band" or "quad-band" phone with you, or perhaps hire a suitable handset locally for your stay.
The cost of mobile voice calls usually depends on which network you are calling and how long your call takes. Depending on your tariff, it may also depend on the time of day. The mobile network companies offer a bewildering array of packages, services and options that are frequently changed, making any direct comparison of costs very difficult unless you can predict exactly which services you will use and to what extent. Depending on your viewpoint, you may regard this as a deliberate attempt to confuse customers or as an example of free and dynamic markets offering a range of choice.
Regardless, it is well worth regularly reviewing the tariff you use. It is also best not to become locked into a long-term fixed contract if you think your needs and circumstances might change.
In most of Europe and many other places, you can still use your mobile handset to make and receive calls using other mobile networks that have a "roaming" agreement with your own. Before travelling abroad, it is a good idea to find out from your mobile network operator which networks in the places you will be visiting offer the cheapest calls. Despite recent price reductions, calls made while roaming abroad can be very expensive. Normally you will be charged for receiving calls abroad too.
Conventional landline textphones (such as the Minicom models) use tones to carry the text over the phone network. But whereas voice calls on mobile networks have been designed to carry the human voice quite well, they do tend to distort music and tones. So, if you dial an ordinary mobile voice call, then place your mobile handset on the acoustic cups of a textphone and type, your typing won't be reliably received. Instead, mobile textphones send text over the mobile networks in different ways that we will describe.
These types of call are designed to carry data, such as computer files and faxes. You open the data or fax application on the handset and you type in the telephone number for the recipient.
Although you could make a circuit-switched data call to an Internet service provider to browse the world-wide web, this would be slow and expensive and there are now better and cheaper ways to connect to the Internet.
The original UK mobile textphones, which were based on the older Nokia Communicators, used circuit-switched data calls to reliably carry real-time text calls.
As with voice calls, the cost of a data or fax call largely depends on how long it lasts.
General Packet Radio Service, another important mobile data service that is available on the mobile networks, is almost always referred to by its initials GPRS. As its name suggests, data is sent in "packets". It is particularly appropriate for non-voice calls, and especially for connecting to the public Internet, where names and IP addresses are generally used rather than telephone numbers.
The latest RNID mobile textphone software uses packet-switched data connections.
Connections to web servers and the public Internet are made via "gateways", whose details are available from your mobile network provider if they are not already preset in your phone. "WAP" gateways are designed to deliver information in a format suited to devices with small display screens. But although the mobile network companies often encourage you to confine your browsing to their own "walled garden" of services, you may often wish to choose to use a gateway that gives you full access to the public Internet and its many resources.
GPRS carries data at rates up to about 0.1Mbps, which is sufficient for text conversation or light web browsing.
But for video calls (which require a fast connection in order to display a smoothly-moving and sufficiently detailed picture of BSL signing), you need at least 3G service. A 3G data connection is also useful if you want to download or upload lots of information, for example long emails with attachments.
Unlike circuit-switched calls, GPRS and 3G data calls are normally charged on the basis of how much data is sent and received, rather than how long it takes. Data is measured in kilobytes or megabytes. One megabyte is 1024 kilobytes. A wide range of tariffs is available: mobile operators sometimes charge you for every kilobyte you transfer, or they might give you a daily or monthly allowance of data.
Be warned that roaming GPRS or 3G data calls can be very expensive, so if you want to browse the Internet while abroad it is usually cheaper to find another way of connecting, such as a local Wi-Fi connection.
A newer transport technology called High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is becoming available. In some countries, HSDPA is available at speeds of up to 7Mbps - a data rate that is similar to that available on many present cable and ADSL fixed broadband connections. Yet already, the mobile industry is working on a project called Long Term Evolution (LTE), which is expected to deliver even faster speeds and may enable a wider range of services such as television to be offered over the mobile operator's own network in the future.
If you are buying a new mobile device, you can only be certain that it is suitable after trying out a sample of the device.
If you plan to send many text messages, how quickly can you compose them? If you prefer it, does predictive text work well for you? Is a full keyboard incorporated in the device or can you connect a portable external keyboard? If you use a stylus, how easy is it to make choices and how well does the handwriting recognition work for you?
If provided, does voice dialling work with your voice?
If you intend to make BSL video calls, does the included camera provide the wide-angle view needed to show your full face and upper body, or is an add-on wide-angle adaptor lens available? Is there a convenient way to prop up the handset so that both of your hands are free to sign?
Mobile devices usually have a display screen, make sounds and may vibrate.
Can you set a ringtone that you can hear, or alternatively set the device to vibrate when you receive an incoming call or message? Although add-on vibrators are available as accessories, they often activate whenever there is any mobile radio signal present, even when someone else nearby is receiving a phone call.
Having gained your attention, is the screen fit for purpose? Is it readable in bright sunlight? If you are older, can you read the screen and see the keyboard labels without having to find your reading spectacles? If you can hear sufficiently to understand voice calls, you may get by with a small display screen. But if you plan to regularly send or receive text or video, a larger screen will be of considerable benefit.
During phone calls, mobile phones can generate sufficient interference in hearing aids that it is difficult to understand the conversation. Fortunately, with modern designs of hearing aid, interference is less of a problem than it used to be. However, if interference causes you problems try:
Neckloops for a wide range of mobile phones are available from the RNID shop.