A very useful facility within the PsiXpda is the onboard ‘3G Modem’, with an easy removable cover enabling quick access to the mobile SIM card. You can create different profiles for use with different mobile networks, e.g. Orange, 3, O2, Vodafone etc or one for your home town and even others in different Countries you may travel to.
The program what runs 3G connectivity is called ‘Mobile Partner’. This software has an address book or can list the contacts from the SIM card. It also enables sending and receiving of SMS (text messages). Voice phone calls (either via the speaker/mic or headset) can also be made by manual number entry into the ‘on screen’ keypad directly or from the Address Book.

Consumer Reports rates cell phone service in the US

Overall rating:

1. Verizon 2. T-Mobile, 3. Sprint and 4. AT&T

Ratings by City:

Verizon was top-rated in every city.

Only a few cities where AT&T was NOT worst

Boston  – 3 / Detroit – 3  / Indianapolis – 2 / San Antonio – 3 / St Louis – 3 / Tampa – 2

Cities AT&T came last:

Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC.

Now thats a looooooooong list. So if you live in the US and you think the service on your iPhone sucks, it isn’t your imagination.

Verizon Ads about network coverage:

You have seen these show up all the time on TV.

But the truth is somewhere close to this:

Advertising is undeniably an essential step to lure several customers for any successful business and if taken in a broader sense, anything which promotes one’s business can be considered ‘advertising’. Whether it is a brochure, booth at some trade show or radio spot, positive advertising always helps the business. However, usually such advertisements refer to paid marketable messages in magazines, newspapers, yellow pages, television and radio or in outdoor promotion.

These days, mobile advertising is also gaining huge preference as with this, business owners can reach to the consumers and prospective buyers directly and can send an attractive message using SMS to gain space in their target market.

Among all different assortments of business promotion, internet advertising is perhaps the most preferred alternative for most entrepreneurs because they comprehend; to be truly flourishing in today’s competitive business scenario, it is absolutely important to carry out some detailed online advertising.

Benefits of advertising India

If one runs a business, or is planning to start one, then it shall always be favorable to take into account advertising on the web. It will provide maximum exposure to the business at very little or no cost at all, because there are so many free advertising options available on the internet. In addition, one can also incorporate videos, appealing text and audio that can be presented in numerous ways alongside good choice of graphics.

• Adwords: One can opt for publishing ads on ‘Google’s Adwords’ where one has to pay a little amount to every visitor who clicks on the ad consisting of maximum hundred words.
• Adsense: While promoting own services or products on a web page, one can also allow other firms to place their ads and get paid for every click made by visitors.

Affiliate advertising India is another technique of giving links to some other business’s services or products on own web page, or one can also combine this technique in Adsense. Moreover, one can also opt for SEO along with advertising so as to gain sound web presence.

Notwithstanding web advertising, mobile advertising is also considered a useful alternative because of its immense significant advantages. With SMS mobile advertising, one can get:

• Massive exposure to business
• Rapid access to audience
• Unlimited Updates
• Ultimate convenience

The most important benefit is that mobile advertising is eco friendly (paper free), and by opting for this, one can help the planet earth.

Lastly, banner advertising is also an efficient and cost effective technique of marketing services and products of a business firm. These ads give immense traffic to the site as just one mouse button click is enough to provide customers with huge information about the company’s services and products.

Reference Website: – www.mobileandinternetadvertising.com

Just a reminder……!
Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th October 2009 -
Earls Court 2, Warwick Road, London, SW5 9TA.
SEE 2009 – the place to find out about the future of the mobile industry. Building on 10 years of successful events, SEE 2009 reflects Symbian’s evolution and that of mobile computing as it changes and extends beyond the realm of the mobile phone. Headline Talks from Symbian Foundation, Linux, Wikipedia and Nokia. Exhibitions and Trade Stands from: Sony Ericsson, Accenture, NavTec, The Register, Land Mobile, Mobile World, Symbian 60, Blackberry and many more. http://www.see2009.org/
I thoroughly recommend this event, I’ve personally been to all the past events; which have proved to be interesting, informative, inspirating, motivating, thought provoking, lots of freebees and the entry to the event is FREE!
I intend to post blogs throughout the two days, so visit my blog again soon.

Also announcing another popular pre-conference event, the All About Symbian Mini-Meet, 17.30-20.00hrs, Monday 26th Oct 09, The Windmill (function room), 6-8 Mill Street, Soho, London, W1S 2AT (Near Oxford Circus U/G). Meet the AAS trio of Rafe Blandford, Ewen Spence and Steve Litchfield, have a drink and join in with pre-conference banter. Ozzie (Palmtopman) will be there from 5.30-7.30′ish.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/10634_All_About_Symbian_mini-meet.php

I think that it would be hard for anyone to convince me that there’s a better mobile network in the UK than ‘3’! (www.three.co.uk/home) Which is especially great for Mobile Smartphone users that are using PAYG (Pay As You Go) tariffs; generally, other UK mobile networks (Orange, Vodafone, O2 & T-Mobile) don’t give much data to PAYG users. I quote, ‘3’ say: “Because our network was designed and built for the Mobile Internet, we can offer internet calls with Skype for free on most ‘3’ mobiles, without ever needing to top up”. I can second this statement, as I’ve just started using after many months of in-activity, my old ‘3’ SIM card, it only had £2.14 credit on it which doesn’t expire and yes, once I downloaded the free Skype interface on my new Nokia 5800 (Symbian Smartphone), I was online with Skype in less than a minute! Fantastic!
Better still, the rewards listed in the table below, last up to 90 days (3 months). Even the lowest £5 (via My3) top-up gives you as much FREE 150MB Internet, 3-to-3 Calls, Voicemail, Windows Live Messenger & Skype as the £25+ does; see (www.three.co.uk/Pay_As_You_Go/Top_ups_the_free_stuff). As ‘3’ are so dedicated to Internet/Data users, it’s why I really think that you’d be pushed to find a better mobile tariff on PAYG that gives you just what Smartphone users want = data, data, data If ‘3’ keep on offering such good tariff’s, I’ll certainly be leaving Orange next year when my contract expires.

Provided by CommunityDNS, the information in this post consists of news items in the security-based Internet community.

Orange restores broadband service

With nearly 1 million broadband subscribers and 15 million mobile customers in the UK alone, an outage experienced by many of the provider’s mobile e-mail customers experienced an outage lasting more than 7 hours, affecting roughly 7.5 million mobile customers. The outage was due to the “vandalism” of critical cables.

Much like the widespread outage experienced in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year that affected Internet and standard voice connectivity for multiple counties throughout the area, the Bay Area outage was due to two strategic cuts in the areas fiber network.

The two outages underscore the need to for organizations and governments to understand and shore up network weak points so as to provide for greater resiliency.

Internet and broadband connectivity are being seen more by countries as as being critical to a country’s, or region’s infrastructure.

Click here and here for more information.

RBS WorldPay downplays database hack reports

It is not known whether the Royal Bank of Scottland’s WorldPay production systems were definitely hacked. While RBS WorldPay claims any attacks were on test systems, thus data exposed was only test in nature and not confidential, the Romanian hacker backs up his claims by submitting further screen shots. To this RBS WorldPay, which processes millions of payments per day, has not responded. SQL injection was the form used by the hacker to break into the systems.

Again, whether the hack into confidential information is correct it illustrates several things:

• Financial institutions are a prize target for the amount of information that can be obtained.

• SQL Injection remains an easy, common, exploitable form of attack

• Whether it will be the case of RBS WorldPay, some institutions seek to keep such breaches private.

Click here for more information.

Scareware scumbags exploit 9/11

It should be of no surprise to find multiple sites have appeared regarding information on 9/11. Such cyber criminals are known for establishing sites capitalizing on the major news items of the day that are of global interest. Such sites are geared to sell rogue anti-virus software; all with the goal of infecting computers with malware.

Click here for more information.

Stenography meets VoIP in hacker world

With over 1,000 stenographic programs available for download, such programs allow for the hiding of information within messages so no one suspects the information, carried within legitimate traffic, is there. Such information may be transmitted within .jpg files. While not used in the hacker community yet, this form of hack has increased within hacker conversations.

The three methods for this kind of attack include:

• Use “unused” UDP or RTP bits that are used by VoIP

• Hide limited amounts of data inside each voice payload packet so as to not degrade quality of sound

• Insert extra, malformed packets within the VoIP flow. While dropped by the receiving phone

In each case a “man-in-the-middle” programs are required on both ends to insert as well as assemble data carried through VoIP transmissions.

Click here for more information.

When it comes to making money out of its Indian operations, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) might be in trouble, but that’’s not preventing the company from dreaming big on its global foray. However, the national telecom operator is ready to step out of India with a Rs 37,000 crore war chest the company is looking aggressively to make some foreign acquisitions.

In addition, BSNL has already bid for Tigo in Sri Lanka and the next frontier is Africa while the company is open to acquisition of companies as well as new licenses and is close to an acquisition in Kenya.

On the other hand, BSNL has also been approached to buy stake in Zain telecom but even as the government-owned firm looks at buying companies abroad, it is reported to be in talks for selling stake to a foreign partner. However, it is also looking to tie up with international players like NTT Do Co Mo and British Telecom for enterprise services.

The Government of India extended to December 31 implementation of mobile number portability, a facility allowing subscribers to retain their numbers even after changing service providers.

However, the 100-day delay in the planned implementation of the MNP is credited to operators‘ inability to upgrade their network.

On top of that the delay on part of regulator TRAI to come out with tariff for the service.

On the other hand, this required customization and upgradation of the existing network to be capable of providing the MNP service while certain technical and commercial issues related to it are also being resolved.

Additionally, it is said that it requires considerable time and effort hence it has been decided by the Department of Telecom to extend the date of implementation of MNP in Metro Category A service areas to December 31, 2009 in the first phase.

Moreover, it is said that the service is expected to be available by end of 2009 to begin with in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The Department of Telecommunications had issued guidelines for its implementation in the country in August last year.

This time just a short post on a new cool commercial from 36.6, the pay-as-you-go mobile network for young people that was launched in Poland last year. I discussed the communication strategy and the previous campaigns of 36.6 in one of my earlier posts – you may check it out here.  The TV campaign that was aired in June and July 2009 introduced the new offer with two main benefits: free-of-charge internet and 0,29 PLN per minute for all phonecalls.

The tagline of the campaign is:  Probably you don’t deserve a present, but you shall get it from us anyway – the free-of-charge internet for topping up your account and 0,29 PLN per minute for all phonecalls.

Well, so we got a guy who crushed a poor little beetle (although there’s a subtitle in the spot claiming that no beetle was harmed during the shooting of this commercial…), while in the second spot entitled “Avalanche” we have another guy who certainly doesn’t deserve any presents   He lets a fart that brings about an avalanche…

One of the more well-known and flourishing types of internet advertising are email newsletters on a monthly basis. All an individual needs to do is send a letter to different internet users to come and view the website.

This is a great way of internet advertising to advertise the business. Search engine optimization is the method of creating the site more simply and easily accessible by the general public over the net.

Search engines throw out searchers which examine the page for any main word and than mark it properly. This technique is all about attracting more and more traffic to the website. If the website is organized properly than it will attract a large crowd towards it.

In order to do good Advertising, one must follow certain tips. Firstly, there must not be any type of error in the advertisement not even any spelling or grammatical error. Secondly, use a characteristic look & sense for the website and add a number of headings, paragraphs, compliments and values.

Thirdly, be cautious of well-established Music. Music on the home page is so old in fashion now! Nevertheless it can be relevant capably. Fourthly, make good use of the pictures and graphics. Lastly, make navigation easy and natural.

The online rush to the website must be able to get the details they require with ease. All these tips will make advertising very relevant. Thus, these tips must be followed while going through the process of advertising.

One of the best sources to advertise a product is mobile advertising. Since mobile is within the reach of each and every individual mobile advertising makes the recognition of the particular website very easy and rapid. Advertising India is a very good topic. These days India has made a lot of progress in the field of advertising.

The money spent on advertising in India is increasing year by year. Mobile SMS advertising or rather Text messaging is a useful method for little business holders to converse with their customers. This is known as the Sms mobile advertising, and it has now become the trend of doing business these days.

A lot of companies have also adopted this technique to spread information on a wider scale. Text messaging carries responsive details linked to the user’s requirement in near time. Thus, this is an effective and a very successful way to expand the business these days.

Reference website: www.mobileandinternetadvertising.com

Tags: Advertising, Internet advertising, Mobile advertising, Advertising India, Online advertising, Mobile sms advertising

Heyah is a pay-as-you-go brand of  PTC mobile network (or “prepaid brand” as we call it in Poland). PTC, which is partly owned by German T-Mobile, is currently the third biggest network in Poland and embraces three main brands: Era, Tak Tak (the first pay-as-you-go brand) and Heyah. Heyah was launched back in February 2004 with a massive advertising campaign which still remains a category benchmark for a successful introduction. The campaign was created by agency called G7 and planned by Optimum Media OMD.  Heyah was introduced by a teaser campaign which displayed only the extremely characteristic logo which is the red hand with a youthful graffiti-like typeface.

Heyah logo

PTC’s strategy for launching the second pay-as-you-go brand was to create a very sharp image for this new brand and thus capture the very young target group which preferred the two rival pay-as-you-go brands: Polkomtel’s Simplus and Centertel’s Pop. After two weeks of teaser activities which involved mostly out-of-home media, ambient and internet, the new brand was officially introduced on March 13, 2004. 

Heyah launch - ambient campaign on balconies / 2004

The new brand used some premium locations to capture the media attention – e.g. the big red hand appeared also on The Palace of Culture in Warsaw, the most recognizable Soviet sky-scraper in the very center of the capital city.

Heyah launch - the red hand on The Palace of Culture in Warsaw

The slogan that was used after the new brand was revealed was:  The pay-as-you-go alternative. The short and simple cartoon-like TV commercials were aired on TV and in cinemas. The new brand had a very distinctive visual style and used only red, black and white colors.

In the following spot Heyah greets its dear competitors, but the word “dear” in Polish has two meanings: dear and expensive…

Heyah had the cheapest pay-as-you-go offer in Polish market when it was launched – it also started the one-second billing, communicated only gross prices (at that time all competitors showed net prices in their advertising), clear and simple pricelist, and focused on the very low-priced text messages (called “SMS” in Polish) which were highly popular way of communication among Polish teenagers. The launch campaign turned out to be a huge success as Heyah managed to attract over 1 million users in the first months after its introduction to the market. The campaign itself won several awards: Gold Cannes Lion 2005 (category: Media Mix) and Golden Effie Award 2005 – both received by Optimum Media OMD, the media agency that works for PTC.

In 2005 Heyah had some of its best advertising campaigns to date in my opinion. I’ll discuss below my two favourites. In July 2005 Heyah caused some publicity with its TV spot created as an alternative version of the famous fairy-tale “The Little Red Riding Hood”.  We don’t know how to tell fairy-tales  was a slogan of this campaign and it again strengthened the transparency of Heyah’s offer. The shocking and drastic ending of the spot caught the attention of the State Council for TV & Radio (KRRiTV), a governmental organization that supervises TV and radio stations in Poland.

The Council claimed that the idyllic mood of the first part of the spot attracts children who are then strongly disturbed by the accident of the Little Red Riding Hood. Heyah was forced to withdraw this spot from TV stations as its broadcast was banned by the Council.  A new version of the spot was aired later with black board and subtitles at the end. 

The next big campaign kicked off in the Fall of 2005 and was focused on a fictional character called Johnny 11 Fingers.  The main message and slogan of this campaign was: Be like Johnny 11 Fingers and check how it is when you always have 10% more. 

Johnny 11 Fingers - print lay-out

The TV spot which was made to look like a documentary film told the story of a Polish pianist from Podlasie area who was born with 11 fingers. Johnny moved to the USA with just 2 dollars, but soon after his arrival in New York he was spotted by Miles Davis and had a big time American-style career under his nickname Johnny 11 Fingers.

The narrator in the spots is Wojciech Mann, a very popular Polish jurnalist and comedian who is known for his thorough knowledge of jazz and rock’n'roll music.  The objective of this campaign was to promote Heyah Club, a loyalty programme, as members of this club always get 10% more to each topping of their account. This campaign also managed to win several awards, e.g.: Grand Prix of Złote Orły 2005 and Golden Watch award at Golden Drum ad festival.

By Sanjay Sharma,

Advertisers these days have many options for advertising, but Mobile Advertising and Internet Advertising are the two most thrilling, as advertisements look very attractive when displayed on phone screens and on computer/laptop screens. Since much potential and scope lies in mobile and Internet advertising and it tends to deeply appeal to the viewers. Mobile Advertisement and Internet Advertisements have come in focus.

Mobile Advertising is closely related to online or Internet Advertising, though its reach is far greater – mobile advertising’s estimated targets say that by end 2008, there would be global total 4 billion. Global estimates of computers, including desktops and laptops, is at 800 million. Therefore exclusive advertising on web pages meant for access by mobile phones is a great idea.

It would be easier for an advertiser to convince people to buy their product when people would receive and view ads while there are already out for shopping. Giving them the relevant information needed can do this and supplying them with added details could also influence them to the extent that they straightaway proceed to buy product after seeing its ads. In these kind of situations, Mobile Advertising can be most beneficial.

As essential needs of all humans are very similar, a person who has received an advertisement through Mobile or Internet may not be in need of the service or product advertised but might know someone who is in need of it and so can pass on the advertiser’s message through word of mouth, forwarding the link or the advertisement. A major benefit of Internet Advertising is that the information and content can be accessed in any country even at late odd hours. Internet Advertisements are often interactive advertising so if the Internet Advertiser opts for a response, the viewer may like to visit the brand’s website, or try to contact them through email, phone, etc.

For mobile marketers Mobile Advertising or Internet Advertising is something already so big, a still growing market with open places that they could fill in. Mobile advertisement becomes in this way closer than ever. A major result of Internet advertising is information and content that is not limited by geography or time. The rising area of interactive advertising presents fresh and innovative challenges for advertisers who have until now adopted an interruptive strategy. Mobile Advertising and Internet Advertising in future are predicted to become the major sources of advertising.

Simplus, the pay-as-you-go brand of Plus mobile network returned with another spectacular advertising campaign in Spring 2009. After the amazing horror-inspired campaign of December 2008  Simplus surprised everybody with its version of French Revolution which cut the price of 1 minute phonecall to just 0,29 PLN making Simplus the cheapest offer in the market at the time of the campaign.

The TV spot takes us back to France of 18th century when the French Revolution breaks out. The TV ad retains this unique touch of the feature film that singles out Simplus spot within a cluttered commercial break.  We witness the battles in the streets, decapitated heads roll down and the blood is shed. The shooting of the TV spot took place in the Old Town of Warsaw. There are French actors in the cast and they talk in French which is dubbed by a Polish speaker. The leader of the Revolution threatens the royal family with death as the price of  Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood, but suddenly a girl butts in with a suggestion that instead of bloodbath battles they could just call up everybody in Simplus since the tariff is just 29 gr per minute to everybody.

Simplus print lay-out / Copy: 29 gr to Everybody. Simple and Cheap.

The key visual of Simplus’ print lay-outs was strongly inspired by the famous painting of 1830 by Eugène Delacroix called Liberty Leading the People [La liberté guidant le peuple] . I think it’s the first case of Polish advertising that brings back visuals from French Romanticism of 19th century on such scale.

Eugène Delacroix's painting - La liberté guidant le peuple (1830)

 All the materials, including BTL such as promotional leaflets, also featured the Delacroix-inspired visuals.

Simplus promo leaflet (cover) / French Revolution campaign

Simplus promo leaflet (inside) / French Revolution campaign

The campaign had a very short slogan:  Simple and Cheap. 29 gr/min to Everybody which obviously layed stress on the low price that was introduced with this campaign.

36.6 is a fairly new prepaid sub-brand of Plus mobile network, which was launched in June 2008. Plus which is owned by a company called Polkomtel SA (Vodafone is one of its major shareholders) is currently the biggest mobile network in Poland and claims to have over 14.5 million users.  36.6  is a brand targeted at teenagers who have very modest pocket money – 36.6 allows them to use their mobile phone even when their mobile account is empty.  This is due to the unique Chill Bill service – for listening to 3 commercials and answering some questions about them you can easily re-charge your account.  According to Plus, until the end of 2008 the newly-launched 36.6 network acquired over 550 000 users. The latest campaign of 36.6 generated quite a lot of buzz due to the completely irrational TV spots with the funny beaver that can count up to 1000 and knows 1000 beats.

  36.6 claims here it could distribute unique beavers that know 1000 beats (and spit at their owners…) for topping up your account, but they reached a conclusion that giving 1000 text messages is a better solution.

  In the second spot the message is that 36.6 could give away beavers that can count up to 1000, but they decided that a better offer is to give a package of 1000 free-of-charge text messages to all networks every time you top up your account.

36.6's billboard / copy: 1000 extra text messages to all networks every time you top up your account

 The name of the 36.6 brand is connected with the proper temperature of a healthy human body (36.6 degrees centigrade) and the brand essence is focused on the lack of pressure or obligation, easygoing attitude to life and freedom.  Teenagers hate it when adults tell them to do something, so 36.6 only suggests an option.  The brand’s claim is: un-compulsory prepaid offer  [in Polish: Nieprzymusowa oferta na kartę]. The easygoing philosophy of 36.6 is expressed in all of its advertising efforts to date and you may check them out below.

Every day you can have somebody else at your side to talk with over your mobile without any limits.  24 hours for just 1,50 PLN.

Perpetum Mobile of 36.6 – even when your account is empty you can still phone one selected number for up to 30 days. 

36.6's billboard / copy: you talk round and round with your chosen person

Time fot the Launch Campaign of 36.6 that started in June 2008 – below you may find some TV spots and outdoor executions:

  Countless text messages to anybody within your network for just 3 PLN per month.  36.6 – the un-compulsory prepaid offer.

  You may talk and text round and round because for listening to ads you get extra cash to re-charge your account.  36.6 – the un-compulsory prepaid offer.

  You may punch as many text messages as you wish within Plus network.

  Easy come – for listening to some adverts you can squeeze out extra cash for your phonecalls. 36.6 – the un-compulsory prepaid offer.

You don’t need to charge your account to be able to talk and text over your mobile. No more trouble with empty account. 36.6.

36.6 launch advertising at bus shelter citylight panel

36.6 launch billboard / copy: Countless text messages for just 3 PLN per month in your network

The advertising agency responsible for all of the above campaigns is Team One Warsaw.  The media-planning and buying was provided by Universal McCann Warsaw.

Plus GSM is one of the three original Polish mobile networks. The brand was launched in 1996.  In 2009 Plus claimed to have over 14,4 million users which made it  #1 mobile network in Poland.  Back in 2007 Plus started its last big image campaign which introduced the brand’s new claim: It’s Better Together  [in Polish: "Razem Lepiej"]. This multimedia campaign was prepared by JWT Warsaw and consist of three different creatives which portrayed the key brand values.

The TV campaign started with this spot, directed by Johan Brisinger, showing a very emotional situation between the son and his old father. The son  is too busy at work to answer his father’s phonecalls. When he finally answers the phone, he finds out that his dad is at the hospital.  He rushes there and discovers an empty room… Eventually it all ends up well. The voice-over says:  May you never fell short of time to show your feelings .  

The spots feature highly recognizable music themes from Once Upon A Time in America & Friends by Ennio Morricone.

Print lay-outs for Plus image campaign - the copy: May you never fell short of time to show your feelings

The second TV spot, that followed after the sad son-father story, is connected with Plus’s long-term sponsorship of Polish national volleyball team. It shows the players helping a family whose car got broken in the middle of the road. The commercials ends up with voice-over comment:  There are some things in life which you can only achieve together.

The third image spot of this campaign shows a little boy who shares a candy he got at school with his younger brother.  The voice-over comments:  Happy is the man who can share with others.

The campaign’s goal was to shift the brand image from distant modern & technology brand to a closer brand that helps people be together and stay in touch.

In February of ’09 we got a call from a new client. Aero Solutions was doing structural up-grades to a mobile phone tower in Corpus Christi. They had to increase the foundation size of the tower in order to accommodate the additional steel they needed to add to the structure. They asked T-Rex to come out and do the excavation at the site to insure that no fiber optic lines got cut while digging in or around the existing foundation. Todd Bothwell of Aero Solutions finds vacuum excavation cost comparable to hand digging or getting an excavator on site. Furthermore, Todd stresses Aero Solutions never waivers on safety.

Todd hired us to safely and non-destructively use vacuum excavation (or hydro excavation) to remove the soil for the expansion of the foundation.  Vacuum excavation is a process by which air or water is used to dig up the soil and a high air flow vacuum sucks up the debris.  Vacuum excavation is completely safe and does not damage fiber optics, electrical, or other utilities known or unknown.  In the wrong application, mechanical digging by backhoe or even a shovel can do serious damage to buried utilities.

Initially, it was a small job and I didn’t think much about it.  About six weeks later Aero Solutions called again with another site in Louisiana to do the same type of job.  This time I took notice and within the next few days I read a story by Dwight Silverman in the Houston Chronicle about AT&T wireless phone coverage getting knocked out twice in one day at the same jobsite due to what sounds like mechanical excavation.

After reading Dwight’s article I connected the dots and sounded the alarm… I had to know more!  Wireless data communication has become an integral part of our daily lives.  I mentioned to my wife that when our children are old enough to get a mobile phone, chances are they will maintain that phone number for their entire lives.  People will allow their water to be turned off before they shut down their cell phones.  Why will they do this?  Communication is king in business, our sense of personal safety (cellular PCS sites have been integrated in 911 services and national security), and now entertainment (ask your kids if they have a Facebook or Twitter application on their phones).  It’s all wireless and it has become as common as water within our culture.   WIRELESS IS A UTILITY.

A little research taught me that the premier wireless industry organization is the National Association of Tower Erectors and it turned out they were having their annual conference in Nashville in just a few weeks.  With the help of Carol Coughlin (head of membership for NATE) and input from Jim Tracey of  Legacy Communications I decided to see if our two industries could help each other out.

That leads me here… typing from my room in the beautiful Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.  In the last three days I have learned a great deal about the wireless tower business.   This is fantastic niche industry full of die hard tough guys who assemble and re-modify towers seemingly overnight in utterly adverse conditions thousands of feet off the ground.  I sat through the best safety presentation of my life by Craig Synder and Todd Thorin of Sioux Falls Tower and Communications and learned about how they created a culture of safety and what it took to get them to that point.  I have learned about the future of tower erection as it applies to the rural wireless expansion in the 2009 stimulus bill and of the detriment the delay of HD broadcast caused to the industry.  I also learned about the dangers of guy anchor and rod corrosion from David Davies of Electronics Research, Inc. and discussed possibilities about how vacuum excavation may be able to simplify the inspection process of guy anchors.

In short… it has been fascinating and I am hopeful that T-Rex will grow with this amazing industry.  I am grateful to all of those I met on this trip and what they taught me.

What I leave this conference with are 3 intentions:

• One, take what I learned this week and quickly test an idea I have around a safe, fast, non-destructive way of inspecting guy wires and anchors and report back the results.
• Two, I will put together literature specific to tower erection and re-modification to educate the industry on ways that T-Rex can make the jobs safer and easier.
• Third, I will serve this industry and those who work in it with integrity and I will answer all questions honestly and responsibly.

Thank you again to everyone who gave me their time and interest. I will be posting results here, please check back soon.

As millions of Americans continue to lose their jobs, homes, and investments there is one area of retail that has not lost its steam. Cell phones have continued to prove their worth in mist of one of the toughest economies our nation has ever seen. Since the narrowing of the wireless providers (Sprint/Nextel, Verizon/Alltel, AT&T/Cingular, and T-Mobile/Suncom) the battle for supremacy hinges cell phone designs and monthly plans. Like video games, the cell phone industry is yet to feel the pinch.

What if you can capitalize off this recession proof industry? What if you were able to earn money and possibly use your cellular service for a cheaper rate or even free? Well there is a company that will allow you earn additional cash and possibly free use of your cellular services. In addition to free cellular services, you may also be able to obtain free cell phones or cellular accessories. The company is called Bemicall. Launching as recently February 17th 2009, Bemicall a subsidiary of Bemicom, has developed a comprehensive membership plan that allows individuals to earn cash and use their cellular services for free!! Like any business, the investors who get in early will reap the early rewards. For more information on Bemicall’s membership plan click here.

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Blyk the mobile phone network which offers free allowance of texts and minutes to people aged between 16 and 24 living in mainland Britain, has a new price plan. This removes the old allowance of 217 texts and 43 minutes and instead gives you £15 of balance to use how you like. The main advantage of this is that you can now send MMS and browse the internet without having to top-up.

However, as sweet as this sounds, you have a much lower allowance than before. At 8p a text, they may be cheaper when compared to other UK mobile phone networks, but £15 of balance only gives you 187 texts if you don’t use any other services that cost, like calling. Previously, you were getting 217 texts. On the other hand, you do get more minutes, a total of 62.5 minutes (at 24p per minute) to be precise. If we were to use the current rates on the old plan, we would get a balance of £27.68 (calculated (8p * 217 text) + (43 minutes * 24p)). A loss of £12.68 balance. Which in turn for them is a lower cost of operating their business.

In conclusion, this change will only benefit people who are only using minutes, which to my knowledge are a minority, but nearly everyone will enjoy the extra freedom. The majority of Blyk users are texters and they will suffer. I definitely believe something should be done about this. For example, doubling the allowance of £15 to £30 and/or lower the text and calling costs. Maybe, it’s time to switch network, only time will tell.

View: Price List
Homepage: Blyk