Delhi tops the country in terms of mobile internet usage

The easy availability of GPRS-enabled mobile phones seems to have made the web accessible to a cross section of society.A recent survey shows that Chennai ranks the third among the metros in terms of mobile internet usage, with nearly 4% of its 98 lakh mobile users surfing the internet on their phones, with a large proportion of them children.The survey, conducted by Techzone, a mobile value added service company, shows that Delhi tops the country in terms of mobile internet usage with nearly 10% of its two crore customers surfing from their mobiles. Mumbai comes in at second place with 6.4% of its more than one crore users going online on the move.

Nearly 60% of all mobile phone users across the nation surf the internet on cell phones to access social networking sites and blogs. Between 15% and 25% browse for entertainment content. Most Chennai users download entertainment content. In the north and other parts of the country, the main pages surfed are social networking and job sites.
the spike in usage has been seen in the last two years after most mobile phones were equipped with GPRS. According to research conducted by telecom operators and data compiled by us from various sources, the average age of those who browse the net is between 20 an 30 years.

A senior BSNL official said mobile internet usage would increase further once 3G becomes fully operational. "Among BSNL users alone, internet usage has increased after 3G was introduced," said the official.

According to Google India, India has the third most internet users in the world, with 100 million people surfing the information highway. China reigns supreme with 300 million users, with the US falling in between with 207 million users.

Apparently, more than a third of that nice round number is made up by 40 million mobile internet users, a fact that puts India’s growth potential in perspective – seeing as that is just 8% of the total mobile phone subscriber base in the country.

Google India’s Vinay Goel commented on the trend, “Our estimate is that by 2012, the number of mobile internet users will surpass those entering the net via their laptops or desktops. The number of mobile internet surfers in India is growing rapidly. In 2007, the country had only two million such Mobile internet users. Now the number has gone up 20 times.”

second generation of mobile networks

2G refers to second generation wireless telecommunication technology for mobile internet. While its predecessor, 1G, made use of analog radio signals, 2G uses digital radio signals.

Based on what type of multiplexing (the process of combining multiple digital data streams into one signal) is employed, 2G technologies may be categorized by whether they are based on time division multiple access (TDMA) or code division multiple access (CDMA).TDMA-based 2G standards include the following: Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), used worldwide; Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (IDEN), developed by Motorola and used in the United States and Canada; Interim Standard 136 (IS-136) or Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), used in North and South America; and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), used in Japan.

IS-95, on the other hand, is CDMA-based. It was developed by Qualcomm, and is alternately known as TIA-EIA-95 or cdmaOne.

2G makes use of a CODEC (compression-decompression algorithm) to compress and multiplex digital voice data. Through this technology, a 2G network can pack more calls per amount of bandwidth as a 1G network. 2G cellphone units were generally smaller than 1G units, since they emitted less radio power.

Another advantage of 2G over 1G is that for mobile internet the battery life of a 2G handset lasts longer, again due to the lower-powered radio signals. Since it transmitted data through digital signals, 2G also offered additional services such as SMS and e-mail. Its lower power emissions also made 2G handsets safer for consumers to use.

Error checking, a feature allowed by digital voice encoding, improved sound quality by reducing dynamic and lowering the noise floor. Digital voice encoding also made the calls less susceptible to unwanted eavesdropping from third parties, due to the use of radio scanners.

2G, however, does have its disadvantages as well. In comparison to 1G's analog signals, 2G's digital signals are very reliant on location and proximity. If a 2G handset made a call far away from a cell tower, the digital signal may not be enough to reach it.

While a call made from a 1G handset had generally poor quality than that of a 2G handset, it survived longer distances. This is due to the analog signal having a smooth curve compared to the digital signal, which had a jagged, angular curve. As conditions worsen, the quality of a call made from a 1G handset would gradually worsen, but a call made from a 2G handset would fail completely.

GPRS Internet Browsing - Using Mobile Phones As Modems For Laptops Or PC

Mobile phone technologies called GPRS and 3G are bringing the world's poorest population Internet access. No where is the impact of these technologies being felt so much as in Nigeria, India and China. The case of Nigeria is indeed remarkable. Just 6 years ago, Nigeria had less than 400 000 fixed lines for a population of about 130 million.

But with the coming of the major GSM networks, MTN, ZAIN, GLO and others, the number of subscribers exploded to over 50 million. Currently, there is a surge in demand in mobile internet access which has been made possible by various packet data access technologies like GPRS, 3G, and HSPDA.

The most surprising thing at the moment is that the cost of access has also gone down dramatically. This means that in countries like Nigeria where about 8 years of democracy has led to the emergence of a new middle class, anybody with a pc or laptop with an appropriate mobile phone can now chat, browse websites, check email, trade stocks, and take online classes even in remote rural areas.

What are the requirements for accessing the Internet wirelessly using mobile phones?

Step 1
You must have a phone that supports packet data access. Mobile phones makers like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung offer a wide range of cellphones varying in sophistication and cost.

Step 2
You must have packet data enabled on your mobile phone network. In Nigeria, MTN, GLO and Zain offer a mix of GPRS, EDGE, 3G and 3.5G or HSPDA.

Step 3
Your phone must be configured for mobile Internet browsing. This is can be done manually or automatically depending on your service provider and the model of your cellphone. Usually, you request the settings from your mobile access provider and either save it automatically or enter it manually.

Step 4
Once you are through with Step 3, you can browse on your cellphone using the default browser it comes with or with a third party browser like Opera Mini, UC Web or Teashark which you install.

Step 5
These packet data-enabled mobile phones are capable of acting as modems for either your PC or laptop. You can either connect your cellphone wirelessly to your PC/laptop using Bluetooth or with USB cable.

Either way, some PCS and laptops may already have the necessary drivers installed. But even if they don't, you simply install the necessary drivers and enter some settings and you are set to go online.

The steps above applies to mobile internet access anywhere in the world, not to just subscribers MTN, GLO or Zain in Nigeria, provided what you are using is a cellphone.

Mobile Internet - Few Things You Should Know

The mobile phone has gone a long way since its birth in the late seventies. From the passed analogue types to the basic coloured screen cellular phones with polyphonic tones. Then came out the cellular phones with built in radio and multimedia. The camera came next, with companies battling it out in the resolution war. And of course, inevitably, cellular phones were equipped with internet surfing capabilities.

When a mobile gadget, like a cellular phone or a laptop, is able to gain entry to the internet via a modem or a PCMCIA card, that is what we refer to as mobile internet.

However, this internet technology has its own unique features even though it provides the same service, internet browsing. Here are ten things that you should know about this internet technology:

1. The very first mobile internet successful log on was released commercially using the Nokia 9000 Communicator in Finland.

2. The advertising industry found another medium in the mobile online system and in the half of the mid 1997, over two billion dollars was spent on mobile online advertising alone. The sales outcome was a staggering 23% of those who browsed.

3. Mobile internet, considering the gadget's size, has its drawbacks. Navigation poses a problem because instead of using an optical mouse, you only have options to either scroll up or down. You are unable to open multiple windows at the same time. For people with vision issues, screens are prohibitively small. Because of the tiny components and memory capacity, browsing may be painstakingly slow. Internet interface is a bit different from a full PC screen. And the cost of surfing may come in as a bit more expensive than the home or office PC access. But that is the price you pay for mobility. And much more, this internet technology is not for heavy research and browsing.

4. To date, there are more than 60 million mobile internet gadgets in circulation around the world. And the number just keeps on growing. As the number of mobile internet-capable equipments increase, the size of the world decreases.

5. This internet technology has greatly increased the access to social sites like Facebook and Twitter by almost 500%.

6. 3G or mobile broadband is the "in" technological breakthrough in the mobile internet world. It has brought a new meaning to streaming video and other similar activities that you cannot normally do with mobile devices.

7. Because of the need and popularity of this internet technology, experts predict that a new mobile internet market is in the offing in the next couple of years.

8. Did you know that the whole of the United Kingdom is 99% Wi-Fi enabled?

9. Despite mobile internet's speedy popularity, half of the world population is unaware that there is such a technology.

10. This internet technology is definitely changing the way people transact. You can purchase a ring in London even if you are in India via the power of this internet technology, a credit card, and E-bay.