The Evolution of the Wireless Phone Network - Literature review Example

? Wireless Phone Network Wireless Phone Network Part VII: Changes to the Society Whereas customary telecommunications networks have made people cross barriers related to distance and time, the latest multimedia realm is permitting people to incorporate vital, physical cues in the communication stream. It is doing this by introducing a physical realism into the world of electronic communication, as well as goods, and services (Lee, 2001). Various inventions have eased up the way humans used to communicate in the past. These inventions are for instance the invention of social networking, sms, and IM. Not shockingly, a number of the industries, which are being drastically revolutionized, are those that cope with the human senses, comprising of entertainment, education, advertising, health care and, sadly, warfare. Simply put, technology or telecommunication has changed people’s way, as well as the pace of life (Lee, 2001). Below follows a brief discussion of how inventions in wireless phone network has changed communication. Changes to How We Communicate Instant Messaging (IM) Instant messaging (IM) refers to a form of communication over the Internet, which provides an instantaneous transmission of text messages from a sender to a receiver (Webb, 2008). In push technique between two or more individuals using personal computers or mobile phones, along with internet service providers, instant messaging mainly offers real-time and express written language-based online messaging. Instant messaging has changed the way humans communicate as the technology sends information extremely fast (Schiller, 2003). No sooner does the sender send the message than the receiver, receives it. Instant messaging also offers instant relies to messaging creating efficiency in communication (Richard & Smith, 2006). SMS Short Message Service (SMS) refers to a text messaging service with regards to mobile phones or the web. SMSs use standardized communications protocols, which offer the exchange of short text messages between mobile phone devices or fixed lines (Lee, 2001). According to research, SMSs are the most broadly used data application in the globe, with 78% of all mobile phone users or 3.6 billion active subscribers. Also, SMS is being used as a form of direct marketing referred to as SMS marketing. It has fastened the way people communicate through their mobile phones, and also at a relatively cheap cost (Richard & Smith, 2006). Twitter and Facebook Social network sites have substantially changed the way human beings relate, as well as communicate, with one another (Richard & Smith, 2006). Facebook and Twitter have allowed individuals throughout the globe to be part of one society and be capable of communicating through diverse forms. One way to communicate on Facebook and Twitter is by adding another person (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). Once an individual adds another, they both become friends, and this forms new friendships. These days, numerous friendships are created through Facebook and Twitter, and they allow people to communicate constantly. Telecommuting Telecommuting or telework refers to a working arrangement in which workers do not travel to a central place of work. An individual who telecommutes is referred to as a teleworker, telecommuter, or, at times, as a home-sourced worker. A lot of teleworkers work from home whereas others sometimes referred to as nomad employees, use mobile telecommunications skills to work from restaurants or other diverse locations (Lee, 2001). According to a Reuter’s survey, roughly one in five workers all across the globe, particularly workers in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, telecommute habitually. Also, nearly 10% of all workers work at home in the above mentioned places. For communities, telecommuting offers cheap employment through enhancing the employability of circumstantially marginalized persons like work at home parents and the disabled, caregivers, retirees and people living in rural areas. Telecommuting eases traffic congestion and traffic-related accidents, easing pressure on transportation infrastructure, dropping greenhouse gases, dropping energy consumption, enhancing disaster preparedness and dropping vulnerability to terrorism. For organization, telecommuting increases the talent pool, drops the spread of sickness, reduces expenses such as real-estate footprint, enhances productivity, as well as reduces their carbon emissions, and energy consumption. Telecommuting also grants a means of fulfilling the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which reduces absenteeism and employee turnover (Lee, 2001). It also enhances employee morale, improves continuity-of-operations tactics, enhances their ability to tackle business across numerous time zones and increases their cultural adaptability. Full-time telecommuters can save their respective organizations approximately $20000 per pay. In summary, telecommuting benefits society in numerous ways, including environmental, economic and personal aspects. Security Issues The wireless communication network as a computing model has led to unprecedented flexibility, usability and access to the Information Technology environment in a moderately short period (Lee, 2001). When a person considers that the traditional computing environment of an enclosed mainframe network was previously accessed by hard wired terminals, then it is easy to consider how individuals can be vulnerable with regards to multiple network connection. However, such a slow development of an I.T. system gave time for experts to create techniques of securing other individuals from network hackers (Schiller, 2003). The heart or center of the security issue, in the wireless security environment, is that networks are at the heart of an independent processing unit and furthermore the architecture itself is vulnerable to external controls. They are extremely easy to access and flexible to expansion. Such evolution makes the wireless world so successful, but highly vulnerable to a security breach (Richard & Smith, 2006). Ease of access itself creates the greatest security problem. The same navigation protocols, which make it possible for subscribers of a wireless network to locate their destination nodes, also create threats for those who use the network in a harmful, unethical or illegal way. The strongest response, to date, to this form of vulnerability is access controls, which should be researched further (Webb, 2008). A second level of security problem to the wireless network is a rogue access point either within the department or network or from outside of the network firewall (Lee, 2001). There is no doubt that security breaches to wireless networks have caused numerous economic and social issues. Hackers for instance have hacked into government systems and stole critical information, which could harm the country when exposed (Webb, 2008). Texting and Driving Texting while driving refers to the act of composing, reading and sending text messages, email, or making other comparable use of the internet on a mobile phone while driving a motor vehicle. The practice has been critics by a lot of authorities and people as risky (Richard & Smith, 2006). Texting while driving has also been ruled as the main causes of motor vehicle accidents and, in a number of places, has been restricted or outlawed. Texting while driving creates increased disruption while driving. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, in 2006, conducted a survey of more than 1000 teens from more than 26 secondary schools countrywide. The findings showed that, to 37% of students, sending text messages can be seriously distracting (Lee, 2001). A survey, by the American Automobile Association, revealed that 46% of teens confessed to being preoccupied by texting while driving, which has led to severe accidents in the past. This distraction is frightening, as 40% of all American teenagers confirm that they have been in a car while the driver used a mobile phone in a manner, which put their lives in danger. The possibility of being involved in an accident while texting goes up by 25 times, since sending or reading a text averts the driver's eyes from the road three-quarters the time he would have focused on the road. Loss of lives is a problem both socially and economically that has been brought about by texting while driving (Richard & Smith, 2006). Losing of life means that a household has lost someone who they love or depend on. Maybe the person had a crucial job, which depended substantially on his or her services, but he or she is now dead. FCC Regulations The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) refers to an independent bureau, of the U.S. government, created by the Congressional statute and a majority of its commissioners, who were appointed by the President. The bureau works in line with six goals in the areas of competition, broadband, the media, the spectrum, homeland security and public safety (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). The bureau is also in the process of developing and modernizing itself. Broadband means that all Americans must have affordable access to reliable and robust broadband products and services. Regulatory principles must support technological competition, neutrality, innovation and investment to make sure that broadband service providers have adequate incentives to enlarge and provide such products and services. Competition, on the other hand, is the provision of communication services, both locally and overseas, which support a nation's financial system. The competitive structure for communication services, according to the bureau, should create innovation and offer customers meaningful and reliable choice in reasonable services (Lee, 2001). Spectrum refers to the effective and efficient use of non-federal spectrum locally and overseas to promote the rapid development of pioneering and efficient communication technologies. The media regulation deals with the Nation's media regulations, which are expected to promote competition along with diversity in order to persuade the transition to digital modes of communication (Schiller, 2003). The Homeland Security and Public Safety regulation tackle communication that takes place during emergencies and crisis (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). A country’s communication infrastructure must be interoperable, redundant, reliable and rapidly restorable (Richard & Smith, 2006). Finally, the “Modernize the FCC” regulation states that the bureau shall strive to be highly adaptive, innovative and productive, which maximizes the benefits to staff, stakeholders and management from efficient systems, resources, processes and organizational culture. Legal Issues Forming a wireless network connection is an extremely easy task, and nowadays it can be done through inserting a wireless card onto a laptop or personal computer (Webb, 2008). However, if a person’s wireless network is not safe, then the information sent to or from the laptop, or personal computer can be read by anybody who makes the effort (Lee, 2001). Therefore, it is essential for people who use such networks to understand the legal issues involved with using such networks. Some of these legal issues are product liability, liability to manufacturers and reliability to transactions among others. Legal Issue #1: Product Liability In order to check on the liability of a wireless product such as a mobile phone, customers should do the following (Richard & Smith, 2006). It is vital to check whether a mobile phone sends carcinogenic wave to a person’s brains as this can cause severe damages to the person using the handset. People could also find out whether their handsets are affected by adverse radioactive fields. If so, then they should shun away from purchasing the product (Lee, 2001). Legal Issue #2: Liability to Manufactures Manufactures are also liable to numerous things with regards to the wireless phone network. First and foremost, it is the duty of manufactures to offer genuine products and services to consumers. A manufacture could be charged, in a court of law, for selling fake goods to consumers (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). It is also the duty of manufactures to come up with ways through which consumers could be protected against hackers among other factors by coming with enhanced techniques such as firewall. Part VIII: Threats to the Environment Studies have confirmed that approximately 40 to 50% of the environmental effect of a mobile phone takes place during the manufacturing of integrated circuits and the printed wiring boards. After acquisition, the normal user then changes their mobile phone every 11 to 18 months. The previous and now useless phones then contribute to electronic waste (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). More than a billion unwanted mobile phones are either pending disposal, or leaking dangerous lead, cadmium, arsenic, brominated flame retardants or mercury into the environment. With fresh features being developed every year, a mobile phone's standard life is now less than 15 months, adding more than 200 million mobile phones along with their batteries to the landfills each year. This figure also approximates to 2.5 million toxic cell phones being dumped each week (Richard & Smith, 2006). E-Wastes Electronic waste, e-scrap or e-waste, describe discarded electronic or electrical equipments. There is a lack of consent as to whether the phrase should apply to reuse, refurbishing and resale industries, or just to products, which cannot be used for its planned purpose (Lee, 2001). Informal processing of e-scraps, in developing nations, might cause serious pollution and health problems, though these nations are also most probable to repair and reuse electronics. A number of electronic scrap components, for instance CRTs, contain contaminants like lead, beryllium, brominated flame retardants or cadmium (Richard & Smith, 2006). Even in developed nations, disposal and recycling of e-waste comes with considerable risk to employees and communities. Therefore, immense care should be taken to evade any unsafe exposure in recycling operations, as well as leaching of material, such as weighty metals from landfills along with incinerator ashes. USA EPA officials and the Scrap industry concur that materials have to be managed with caution (Lee, 2001). Numerous computer elements can be reused in creating fresh computer products, whereas others are reduced to steel, which can be reused in construction, jewelry and flatware. Substances found in large quantities comprise of fiberglass, epoxy resins, PVC, thermosetting plastics, tin, lead, copper, beryllium and silicon among others. Elements found in small quantities comprise of mercury, cadmium and thallium (Richard & Smith, 2006). Others found in trace amounts comprise of americium, antimony, barium, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, boron, europium, germanium, gallium, gold, indium, manganese, lithium, niobium, nickel, palladium, rhodium, platinum and ruthenium among others. This goes on to prove how the environment is vulnerable to destruction as even the smallest amount of these toxic substances can cause grave consequences when exposed to the atmosphere (Lee, 2001). Depreciating Real Estate Values Due To Cell Phone Towers As more and more individuals find themselves buying and using mobile phones, having the best service is a priority for a lot of individuals (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). In order to grant this service, telecommunications firms have to set up cellular transmitting towers. Telecommunication firms, at times, erect these towers in neighborhoods, leading to serious concerns among residents (Schiller, 2003). Home owners fear that their residences will lose values owing to potential buyers not willing to stay close to a cellular telephone tower. When cellular service firms put towers in neighborhoods, one issue that arises involves seeking consent from local government administrators. A lot of neighborhoods have strict zoning restrictions (Richard & Smith, 2006). Since the towers mainly fall outside the place of the zoning, the firms need unique authorization for any clashes to the ordinances. This normally leads to a clash between the cellular service company and local residents. Home owners who fear for a drop in property values normally attend zoning and planning meetings (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). These meetings support public opinions with regards to the topic. Voicing worries, at the meetings, gives citizens a platform for their voices to be heard. It also gives cellular service companies the chance of presenting any facts, which they feel the public should know (Lee, 2001). Individual, as well as governmental studies, have proved that people do consider moving into a neighborhood that has cellular towers. A majority of citizens shy away from such places, and this makes put home owners out of business. Cellular service companies should try to find ways through which these towers could be set up in locations with minimal residents. Conclusion The wireless phone network is gaining ground owing to its reduced cost, as well as ease-of-use (Prasad & Ruggieri, 2007). Everybody is familiar with mobile phones and computers, which use wireless technology. There are many more likely convenient applications for wireless and the breakthrough enhancements taking place, in this field, are projected to revolutionize in the future. Wireless network has led to less maintenance and acquiring cost. The arrival of radio communication has overtaken the use of telephones, which use wires to convey signals (Webb, 2008). The new age mobile phone, with regards to wireless technology, has made it likely for people to reach someone anytime. Wireless technology cheaper than wire technology since it does not involve the laying down of wires or cables and regular repairs (Lee, 2001). This means that, in the future, cost of communication will be eased, and hence communication will be enhanced. References Lee, W. (2001). Lee's essentials of wireless communications. San Francisco: California University Press. Prasad, R., & Ruggieri, M. (2007). Technology trends in wireless communications. London: Artech House. Richard, G., & Smith, K. (2006). Mobile and wireless communications: An introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill International. Schiller, J. (2003). Mobile communications. Boston, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley. Webb, W. (2008). The future of wireless communication. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More