FAQS About Business Mobile Phones

Glossary of Terms

Confused by mobile phone terminology?

Find the answer to the most frequently asked questions about your business mobile phone at phoneboxsolutiions.co.uk.

2G
2G stands for second generation phones that replaced the original analogue network phones.

2.5G
2.5G is a way of showing a handset has more data features than a 2G handset whilst not quite matching up to the newer third generation of phones. A 2.5G handset will generally support features such as EDGE and/or GPRS.

3G
3G stands for third generation phones. These are the latest mobile phones that offer mobile broadband, high speed data transfers and video calling.

A-GPS
Some mobile phones that have inbuilt GPS also support A-GPS and this means the mobile handset will use a triangulation technique to help get a fast fix on your current location.

BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth is a short range wireless communications technology that allows connection between two Bluetooth enabled mobile phones or other Bluetooth enabled devices. For example a hands-free mobile phone handset.

CELLULAR OR CELL
A term used by the mobile phone industry to describe each transmitter and the signal coverage for a particular area or region.

DUAL BAND
Dual band enables a mobile phone to work on two different mobile phone transmission frequencies.

EDGE
Stands for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution for enhanced data transfer speed on a GSM network. It can be seen as an alternative to 3G, and can be used to offer faster transfer rates by networks in areas where they do not have 3G coverage

GB
Is a computer term that stands for Gigabyte. One Gigabyte is equivalent to 1024 MB (Megabyte)

GPS
Stands for Global Positioning System and used to calculate your location and position by taking up to 3 satellites to calculating your location.

GPRS
Stands for General Packet Radio Service and was the first high speed data service for digital mobile phones.

GSM
The Global Standard for Mobile communications is a digital standard used by mobile networks across the world. The bandings are referred to by single, dual, tri or quad band phones. A quad band phone will allow you to use your mobile phone in more countries around the world then say a dual band phone.

HSDPA
Stands for high speed download packet access. HSDPA is known as mobile broadband that allows high speed downloading data on a 3G mobile phone network.

HSUPA
HSUPA is a complimentary service to HSDPA offering broadband high speed upload packet access.

IMAP
Stands for Internet Message Access Protocol and is a method for sending and receiving email.

IRDA
A standard protocol for data exchanged between devices using infrared technology.

KBPS
Kbps stands for kilobytes per second and used for indicating the speed of data transfer on a mobile phone network.

MEMORY EXPANSION SLOT
This allows you to increase the memory capacity on a phone by adding a suitable memory card. For example; MicroSD or memorystickPRO.

MOBILE BROADBAND
Mobile Broadband is used to indicate high speed data access using a mobile phone or USB dongle connected to a laptop computer or PC.

MB
MB stand for Megabyte and is equal to 1024kb of memory storage.

PUK
PUK stands for Pin Unblocking Key and is the security code used by networks to protect a mobile phone users sim card.

QUAD BAND
Quad band refers to handsets that can operate on all four of the GSM transmitting frequencies around the world.

ROAMING
The ability to use a mobile phone abroad

SYMBIAN
Symbian is the name of the company that developed the Nokia's S60 phone operating system and is used my other mobile phone manufacturers.

SMARTPHONE
A smartphone is a mobile phone that has an 'open' operating system that can be expanding to increase functionality with the addition of third party software. Usually runs Symbian, UIQ or Microsoft Windows Mobile operating systems

TRI BAND
Tri or Triple band means three bands, and refers to mobile phone that can operate on three of the four GSM transmitting frequencies.

TV OUT
Show what you see on the screen of your mobile phone on a TV screen using a TVout connection.

UIQ
UIQ stands for User Interface Quartz, and is UI software platform that is based on the Symbian operating system

WiFi Is a term used to describe wireless standards for local network wireless connectivity.

WINDOWS MOBILE
Windows Mobile is a phone operating system found on smartphones and uses many of the features that are found on a desktop PC.

WLAN
Wireless Local Area Network, is a group of computers and electronic devices connected together using the WiFi standard.