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EdTech News
Using your mobile (cell phone) while travelling can be expensive. Long distance charges and roaming fees for accessing another phone company's system can make your cell phone bill skyrocket.
There are a number of ways to minimise these expenses:
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Switch to SMS
International roaming is very affordable if you stick to SMS (text messaging). On departure, just forward all calls to voicemail and leave a message that you will only receive text messages while travelling. You will pay about 15 cents (US) per message on the Vodafone network in over 160 countries (you would need to check which of your local service providers links to this network).
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E-mail efficiently
E-mail on cell phones and similar instruments such as PDAs/Blackberries is a budget killer at about US$40 per megabite on international roaming. Avoid it if you want to save money, unless you are using 3G technology (see "The emergence of 3G" on this page).
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Make sure you have the right phone
Check with your cell phone provider to make sure your phone will work where you're going. While GSM/GPRS networks are used most widely around the world, CDMA networks will work only in North America. Go to your service provider's web site and research this in advance.
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Purchase a calling card
Calling cards offer low per-minute rates. It is less expensive to access voicemail messages by using your calling card at a public payphone or other land-line. You can purchase in-country calling cards, or use ones issued by your home telephone company.
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Get a second phone
Some frequent travellers buy or hire a phone that will work at their destination. Look for a GSM tri-band or quad-band phone that is "unlocked" or "un-coded", so you can insert a prepaid local SIM card that provides a certain amount of air time and long distance charges. You can buy the cards at a newsstand or local shop when you arrive at your destination.
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Leave your phone at home
The surest way to save money on cell phone charges when you're travelling is to not even have your cell phone with you - then you won't be tempted to turn it on or answer a call.
An emerging technology that bears watching is called "3G" - third-generation mobile phone technologies. 3G technologies can transmit high-speed data through cell phones, PDAs or other mobile devices, thereby reducing air-time charges. It is already being introduced in some countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. 3G promises to reduce the cost of e-mails and data sent over cellular networks from around US$8 per megabite to about 10 cents per megabite.
Your choice of which cellular technology to buy will depend largely on where you live and where you travel. The more countries you visit and expect to contact, the more basic you need to keep your technology. Some communication systems use GPRS cellular networks, which are likely to cost you $1 to $3 per message coming in or going out, depending on length, and are limited to just over 60 countries world-wide. The short messaging system that has been in use since just after the release of GSM phones ("1G") still only costs a few cents per message and moves freely between over 160 countries. Sometimes older technology just makes sense.
If you are planning to move around a small piece of the world where 3G has been implemented, this is probably the way to go - provided your correspondents all use cell phones or e-mail. It is possible to use a PC card in your notebook/laptop to connect to the Internet via cellular networks. If you are planning to purchase one of these in your country, check very carefully on the prices you will be paying to access networks, especially on international roaming. If the service defaults to GPRS when travelling internationally, you may be paying as much as $40 per megabite.
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Global demand for bandwidth grew by 42 percent in 2004, with the largest gains coming in Asian countries, according to TeleGeography Research. Peer-to-peer traffic and web surfing are currently the top applications of the Internet. The most growth is happening in peer-to-peer swapping of data-rich files such as videos.
While Internet Service Providers in developed countries still have plenty of bandwidth to meet demand due to a glut of capacity created during the recent fiber-optic building boom, the situation is different in many developing countries, with limited bandwidth acting as a barrier to the effective delivery of eLearning. Institutions in many developing countries pay much more - some say up to 3,000 times more - for Internet access than in industrialised countries.
This is often due to restrictive telecommunications legislation and/or protected monopolies in the telecom sector. As a result, many institutions can only afford a limited bandwidth connection for their hundreds or thousands of users.
The availability of good Internet bandwidth at an affordable price to institutions is considered an absolute necessity to support quality education. Governments in developing countries can play a role by ensuring that their telecoms provide Internet bandwidth and high quality service at realistic prices. Institutions can play a role by joining forces with other institutions to buy bandwidth in bulk. Nearly 50 institutions recently formed a small non-profit entity in South Africa to buy bandwidth for all the institutions together, bringing down the cost substantially for each member.
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