Click below to
find interesting
information from our
August 2010a
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
BlackBerries
blocked
Research in
Motion's (RIM)
BlackBerry range
of handsets has
long been the
leading
corporate e-mail
platform for
frequent
travellers, with
its efficient,
secure
(encrypted)
e-mail and
messaging
services.
However
clouds are
appearing on the
horizon. Some
countries are
threatening to
"turn off"
BlackBerry
functions. The
UAE (home to
Dubai and Abu
Dhabi) has
announced that
BlackBerry
e-mail, instant
messaging,
internet
browsing and
social
networking will
be disabled in
October. Saudi
Arabia announced
that BlackBerry
Messenger will
be disabled from
later this
month, but a
deal has been
reached to place
servers inside
the country to
allow message
monitoring.
India gave a
deadline of the
end of August to
RIM to allow
access to
encrypted
messages.
Kuwait, Bahrain,
Lebanon and
Indonesia are
also reported to
be having
problems with
BlackBerry
services.
The UAE telecoms
regulator stated
that the reason
is that
BlackBerry
services
"operate beyond
the enforcement"
of local
security
regulations (the
regulator stated
that despite
negotiating
since 2007, they
were unable to
get RIM's
cooperation to
the level
enjoyed by UK,
USA and even
Chinese telecoms
regulators). RIM
warned
BlackBerry users
a year ago that
software
distributed by
Etisalat, a UAE
mobile operator,
was actually
spyware. It is
likely that RIM
will install
servers in at
least one or
more countries
as a result,
which may
prevent
blocking, and
may provide
encryption keys
for local
BlackBerry
subscribers.
Whilst
we'll keep you
informed, get an
update before
roaming with a
BlackBerry.
It would also be
prudent not to
send or receive
any information
that you would
not want the
local government
to see.
Updates:
An Indian
government
spokesman stated
on 31st August
that the
BlackBerry
service will not
be shut down
from September
1st, as RIM will
give India
access to secure
BlackBerry data.
The stay on
shutdown is
temporary.
The India
arrangement
according to RIM
involves
"technical
solutions" that
allow local
security
agencies to
monitor
encrypted e-mail
and messaging
traffic.
India's
Economic Times
reported that
the government
has been granted
manual access to
Messenger
services, and
that automatic
access would be
granted from
January 2011.
The UAE
regulator
announced just
before the
mid-October ban
was due to start
that it was
lifted as
BlackBerry
services were
now compliant
with the
telecommunications
regulatory
framework.
RIM maintains
that it has a
consistent
global standard
for access
requirements and
does not make
special deals
for individual
countries.
Travel
WiFi in
flight
Wi-Fi
connections
in the
air may
not be
the
magical
service
capability
that
some in
the
travel
world
had
hoped.
Although
airlines
and
providers
of the
service
says
they're
pleased
with
consumer
response,
some
analysts
estimate
that
perhaps
less
than 10%
of the
passengers
who
could
use
Wi-Fi to
log on
to the
Internet
actually
are
doing
so. Even
that
estimate
may be
inflated
by
discounts
and free
introductory
periods.
Part of the
problem is
likely to be the
premium pricing.
That could be
too much even
for some
business
travellers.
Business Travel
News recently
surveyed
corporate travel
managers and
found that only
about a third of
the companies
that responded
reimburse their
corporate
travellers for
in-flight Wi-Fi
expenses.
The industry
disputes the
notion that
Internet access
on planes isn't
taking off.
Wi-Fi access has
been available
only about 18
months and on
only about 950
mainline
commercial jets
— less than a
third of the
U.S. fleet
(where it is
most
concentrated),
rising to nearly
2,000 U.S.
planes will be
equipped end
2010.
But many
travellers feel
that Wi-Fi isn't
a matter of
price, but of
value and
therefore
decline to log
in on short
flights,
preferring to
wait till the
landing. There
are other
reasons some
travellers
aren't logging
on. "I choose
not to use Wi-Fi
on a flight,"
says Bill Wahler,
sales manager
for a Chicago
staffing firm.
"I don't need to
be connected
24/7/365. I may
be a road
warrior, but I
have to have
some 'me' time,
too."
Mobile phones
The first mobile
phones
We take them for
granted these
days, but do you
know what was
the first mobile
phone? Perhaps
that used by
Lars Magnus
Ericsson (the
founder of the
company of the
same name) who
had a telephone
in his car in
Sweden in 1910.
He had to stop
near an overhead
telephone line
and connect
using two long
wires.
The idea of
patching vehicle
mounted radios,
incorporating
certain
modifications,
to the telephone
network was
evolved and
tested by the
Swedish police
in 1946 for use
in police
cruisers. It
drew so much
current (these
were the days of
vacuum tubes)
that the car
battery would
run out after
half a dozen
calls were made.
Towards the end
of 1940s, so
called
radio-telephones
began to be
available
publicly in the
United States.
Since the
switching
technology was
not as advanced
as it is today,
these phones had
to be manually
patched into
telephone
network for the
purpose of
meaningful
communication.
These weighed
around 20kg and
were most often
used in cars.
The first
portable mobiles
had to wait for
the invention of
the transistor,
so in Moscow in
1957 Leonid
Kupriyanovich
(right) built
the LK-1
which
weighed around
500g and had a
range of 30km
and a battery
life of 20 hours
- not too shabby
even by today's
standards. It
had a rotary
dial and the
associated base
station could
handle several
users at a time.
The first truly
mobile network
(where users
could move
around freely
and not stay in
one
base-station's
range) was
foreshadowed by
Motorola's
Martin Cooper
(left) who made
the first call
in 1973. Cooper
and
Kupriyanovich
probably jointly
deserve the
accolades for
inventing the
mobile phone.
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