Two-in-one phones
Get the liberty to use two connections on
one handset.
Dual subscriber identity module (SIM)
card mobile phones (or two-in-one cellphones) have
made it to the market of late. But before you
rush out to buy one, read on to discover what a
dual SIM phone may hold for you.
Tata Teleservices
along with Samsung recently launched a dual phone called Samsung Duo
that supports a CDMA and a GSM SIM
connection. Spice, too, has introduced its own rendition
with the Spice D88 model that supports both GSM
& CDMA connections and Dual D80, which
supports two GSM connections.
Dual SIM phones can be used if you want
both a personal and business number (i.e. two
connections) on a single handset, thus saving money
by combining two different payment
plans or network carriers, or maybe using
regularly local pre-paid cards on your business trips.
Major mobile phones manufacturers,
however, look disinterested in this particular phone
category.
Spice D88 has decent looks. Although not
exactly a top-class feature-rich phone, it is
adequately sized and reasonable to use. On the
other hand, Samsung Duo, being a touchscreen
phone, seems a tad difficult to master.
Samsung Duo comes with two SIM slots and
facilitates use of both CDMA and GSM numbers
simultaneously, but the switch between the two
connections requires rebooting the phone. This
is the most cumbersome part of using
Samsung’s dual phone.
In contrast, Spice has made the switch
between the two connections a breeze. The
connections, both GSM and CDMA, are active at any
time and the calls and text messages can
be received from any of the numbers. D88
can be run in different operation modes. One can
set GSM connection as the primary number
while the CDMA connection becomes secondary
or vice-versa.
By default, the phone recognises
GSM as the primary mode but if you want to make a call from
the CDMA connection, then type the number
and press select “CDMA dial” option to connect.
The signal strength of each connection
can be clearly seen on the menu screen. The phone
menu lists all options like CDMA SMS, GSM SMS
clearly without confusing the user.
In an event where there is an incoming
call from another network during a call, D88 sounds an
alert and displays the information about the
incoming call on the screen.
For instance, if there is an incoming
call from the GSM network while the user has dialled
a
CDMA call, then one can answer it only
after ending the call from the CDMA network.
The only drawback of running the phone
with CDMA as the primary mode is that it drains the
battery pretty fast. The battery life is reduced
to around 2 hours when run on CDMA as the
primary mode, and 3.5 hours when on the GSM
mode.
A few advantages that Spice can lay its
claim on include two phonebooks and SMS inboxes
that can be accessed simultaneously on Spice
D88, unlike Samsung Duo. Besides, Spice Dual
can work on any CDMA and GSM operator
network, a feature that is absent from Samsung
Duo, which works only
on Tata’s CDMA connection.
On its part, Tata
Teleservices is offering to retain the last five
digits of the user’s previous
mobile number when he switches to a new Tata mobile number. Moreover, Samsung Duo
customers on Tata
network are being offered a discount of Rs 200 for
two months.
Spice has compromised on multimedia
features but, then again, it is the first generation of dual
SIM phones. A 1.3 megapixel
camera does nothing to enhance the phone’s features, with
picture quality that has not much to boast
about.
An MP3 player is included too, but it’s
better use your headsets to hear a decent sound.
Samsung Duo is priced at Rs 11,999 and Spice D88 is available for Rs 9,849.
Business Standard
DoT snubs Trai
on spectrum
An endless list of 250 applications for
telecom licences, with many more spectrum seekers
still
to come, is compelling the DoT to juggle new criteria for spectrum allocation,
including a bend
towards auctions for 2G spectrum. However, Trai's recommendations of August 29 specify that
there should be no auction of 2G spectrum in
the 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands.
Earlier this week, DoT
aligned itself in favour of capping of number of
operators, by stating that
applications would face a tough screening process,
which opposes Trai's view that there
should be no such cap. "In other
countries, spectrum is first auctioned and those that win
operate telecom services. The grant of licence does not precede spectrum allocation as it is
done in
He also clarified that grant of licences will not translate into automatic grant of
spectrum. "This
should be obvious since we awarded licences last year, but have not allocated any spectrum
as yet", he said.
Official said, spectrum policy, which is
expected to dispel the dark clouds of confusion and
anxiety gripping
by the first week of October. The policy is
likely to be announced by mid October after telecom
minister, A Raja's approval", he said.
The 250 applications sitting heavily on DoT's desk, reflect a success story gone
embarrassingly wrong, with government falling prey to
its own first-come-first-served spectrum
allocation policy.
Since historically spectrum has been
bundled with the licence, industry believes this
guarantees spectrum to all those in queue for licences. As a result, 250 applications have
poured in, which works out to roughly 12
operators per circle. In contrast, the spectrum that will
be available can reasonably accommodate no
more than two or three new pan
at best. On Thursday, Hindujas
also said they would apply for pan
This forces DoT
to deal with the unenviable task of weeding out 'non-serious players', an
exercise expected to lead to serious back room
maneuvering of bureaucrats and politicians.
The outcome is uncertain, despite acknowledgement
at the highest levels in DoT that auctions
increasingly appear the fairest method of spectrum
allocation.
Legally, DoT
must either accept Trai's recommendation or refer the
matter back to the
regulator. Instead, it is moving ahead by
scripting fresh allocation criteria after closing the
window for applications on 1 October. This is
worrying for industry, as a closed window for 2G
read with Trai's 3G
recommendations of auctions for existing players only means firms who
don't file or get licenses now will be out of
both 2G and 3G.
However, the prospect of bagging
nationwide spectrum at a throwaway price of Rs 1,600 crore
is making it well worth the wait and
heartburn for the growing list of aspirants.
The Times of
DoT to study CDMA cos' claim on 1900 MHz
for 3G
With CDMA operators claiming that field
trials in the 1900 MHz frequency band has
successfully established that telecom services in
this frequency will not impact GSM operations
in the 2100 MHz band, the department of
telecom (DoT) has decided to send representatives
from both Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC)
and the industry to validate this claim. CDMA
operators are lobbying for 1900 MHz spectrum to
offer 3G services in future. At present, they
operate in the 800 Mhz
frequency band.
DoT’s decision to send a team to
constant warning that any move to allocate
spectrum in the 1900 MHz band to CDMA players
would adversely impact their services in the
2100 MHz band. The trials were done on Tata
Teleservices’ network using
equipment provided by Chinese equipment maker ZTE.
CDMA operators said the trails were
carried out as per DoT’s directives. The DoT had
instructed that “trials should be conducted with
reasonable number of base stations of both the
systems (GSM and CDMA) with proper placement to
form a cluster along with large number of
users/handsets, resembling a dense traffic area”. It
has also added that “in case of interference
to existing users, the experiment will have
to be discounted immediately”. Following field trials,
CDMA operators’ have also submitted the
requisite data and results to the Wireless Planning
and Co-ordination Wing (WPC) of the DoT to verify their claims that mix band allocations is
possible in the country.
GSM players on the other hand maintain
that a “limited trial can never replicate an environment
of large scale deployment of base stations
and handsets. So the results of the pilot cannot be
relied upon”.
The Cellular Operators Association of
India (COAI), the body representing all GSM operators,
in an earlier communication to the
government had said: “The mixed band plan solution has
not been implemented anywhere in the world,
nor has this plan been certified by any
international standards body. It has also been
submitted that
targets and extremely price sensitive consumer
cannot afford to adopt a solution that is not
globally harmonised and
delivers affordable services through economies of scale.”
Additionally, the COAI has also said that
it was deeply concerned that the DoT has permitted a
mixed band plan trial without the involvement
and even knowledge of the GSM industry, which
are the main affected party. “We note that
the trial has involved ZTE which is a vendor and a
CDMA operator, but not
a GSM operator. The
exclusion of the GSM industry is indeed most
inexplicable and such a one sided trial carried out
by the aggressor is against all tenets of
fairness, openness and transparency,” the
communication added.
The Economic Times