Kudos to TRAI - Mobile number Portability is here

Mobile Number Portability is here!!!

After a long wait, the mobile number portability (MNP) is finally here. Set for a nationwide roll-out today, MNP will usher in an era of new freedom for mobile subscribers in the country. The technology will allow subscribers to change their mobile service provider without the fear of losing their old mobile number.

This means users will be able to retain their old mobile number even after they decide to change their service provider. And yes, the service is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers and also on both GSM and CDMA platforms.

The consumer-friendly service was mooted over two years ago and was planned to be implemented by the end of 2009. However, implementation had to be deferred several times owing to reasons ranging from lack of preparedness of operators to delay in appointment of an agency to oversee MNP execution.

As per the eligibility criteria, there should not be any outstanding payment by way of pending bills before customers can apply for availing of MNP services, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said.

It also said that the mobile number sought to be ported should not be subjudice and also there should not be pending request for change of ownership of the mobile number.

The DoT has claimed that the entire process of switching operators would take a maximum of seven days and subscribers may face disruption of services for about two hours during that period.

"The maximum time period for porting would become seven working days except in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East licensed service areas, wherein it would be 15 working days," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.

Switch by high spending, post-paid subscribers, business subscribers could start another round of price war among operators. High-end users make up 5 per cent of the total subscriber base but generate around 20 per cent of revenue.

India has more than 700 million subscribers across the country with nearly 10 operators in each circle.

Customers willing to exercise the option of changing their service provider without change of number will have to follow the following simple steps.

Send an SMS to 1900 in following format: PORT - eg. PORT 9999999999.

You will get an SMS reply that contains a unique porting code from the existing service provider.(This code is valid only for a few days, and one must apply again if it expires.)

The customer can then make an application in the prescribed form (SMS to the preferred operator quoting the unique code) mentioning the code to the selected new service provider for porting of number.

Your existing operator will check with new operator & if there are no dues then approval will be given for porting.

You will get an SMS on the time and date when porting will take place. Rules mandate that process be completed within 4 days of applying. However a period of seven days has been prescribed for completion of porting (transfer) of the mobile number to the network of the new service provider.

After porting is complete, wait for an SMS from your new operator confirming the switch. Your phone may be dead for about 2 hours when the porting takes place.

Excerpts from the TRAI direction for the mobile service providers released on 10 Feb 2010:

A mechanism for the purpose of receiving Short Message Service messages from its subscribers requesting for a unique porting code which shall provide:-

(i) a Unique Porting Code consisting of 8 characters of which the first two shall be alphabets that denote the service provider code and service area code which have been specified by the Authority (for example: TD for Tata Teleservices Ltd in Delhi service area) and the remaining 6 characters shall contain 1 to 9, A-N & P-Z only, and small letters and the alphabet ‘O’ shall not be allowed;

(ii) the Unique porting Code allocated to a subscriber shall be valid for a period of fifteen days from the date of request or such time till the number is ported out, whichever is earlier, for all service areas except Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East licensed areas where the validity for the Unique Porting Code allocated to a subscriber shall be valid for a period of thirty days from the date of request or till such time the number is ported out, which ever is earlier, irrespective of. number of requests the subscriber makes; and,

(iii) the Short Message Service (SMS) text for requesting Unique Porting Code by a subscriber shall be the word ‘PORT’ followed by a space followed by the ten digit mobile number which is to be ported which shall be case insensitive. (i.e. it can be port or Port etc.) and in case the subscriber’s Caller Line Identification does not match with the ten digit mobile number, Unique Porting Code shall not be allotted but a message shall be generated to inform such subscriber that the Caller Line Identification does not match with the mobile number.

Courtesy: Times of India, NDTV, TRAI.GOV.IN

Cell Phone Basics

Cell Phone Basics


What is a "cellular phone"?

A cell phone is a device that accesses a large RF wireless network and giving the end user the ability to make and receive phone calls, send and receive email, text messages, data, video.

How do cellular phones work?

When it comes to cell phone basics, essentially every phone has a serial number, identification number of some sort that is unique amongst every other device that's on the network. With that being said, every time you turn on your cell phone, that number transcribes into your telephone number, into you as a person, your name, your personal information, all that. Once your cell phone is on the network and registered, when it says "Hi, I'm here. I'm so-and-so's cell phone", it's basically saying to the network "I'm available". Then, when a call is placed and when you make a phone call, it basically does what's called pinging a server. Here, it checks to see if the other end is open to receive a connection. When it does this and says "Ok, there is someone here and we'll take a call. What are you going to do?" This is when your phone rings and you say answer or ignore. If you click answer, it sends a message back to the tower saying "I've accepted the call" and then starts transmitting the voice data that goes into the microphone. Then, it gets transferred into smaller pieces of information that can be sent wirelessly over the network to the towers and on to the other end.

Why does my cell phone reception vary depending on the area I'm in?

With regards to the basics of cell phones, cell phone reception comes from a large tower that comes out of the ground which transmits a signal. The tower transmits a beacon and that beacon transmits it via a wave. That wave is an actual radio frequency that sends a signal from the tower to the handheld cell phone device. When that wave is in any way disrupted, you see deterioration in the signal strength and therefore have low cell phone reception.

What is a "Subscriber Identity Module" (SIM) card?

With cell phones, SIM actually stands for Subscriber Identity Module. Essentially, a SIM is like an ID card for your telephone number, and that ID card is specific for the network. When you sign up with a new service on a GSM carrier, GSM carriers use SIM cards to define who people are. So, when you give me your name and I set up your account, the SIM card number that I put in there is your unique identification for the network. Once your cell phone's turned on, it actually takes that unique identification and sends it to the network so that the network knows who you are and where to route the phone calls to.

What is the difference between a "locked" and an "unlocked" cell phone?

With cell phone basics, the difference basically between an "unlocked" and "locked" cell phone is that a locked phone comes directly from the carrier. So, Carrier A has the phones that they test, set up and have already preconfigured to talk to their network and transmit data with and whatnot. Whereas an unlocked phone however, is directly from the manufacturer, it comes from Motorola and Nokia. The carriers don't ever touch them, because of that, they can use whatever SIM card they want inside, whereas a locked phone can only take Carrier A's SIM card, or, a Carrier B locked phone can only take a Carrier B SIM card. In contrast, an unlocked phone can take either/or SIM card.

What are "peak", "off-peak" and "mobile to mobile" minutes?

Peak minutes generally are minutes that are calculated between the hours of 7:00 AM and 8:59 PM. That's when the network sees the most usage. That's why the minute pools that you get, that you pay for per month, are taken out of that time, because it's the time that people most often use their phones. Off-peak, however, is a time when the network is idle or people are sleeping, or eating dinner. There's just not that much load in the network, so you can be free to use that as much as you want. Mobile to mobile, however, is basically giving the customer the ability to call another handset on the same carrier. So, if you're with carrier A and you have a telephone, and your friend is also with Carrier A, anytime you communicate between the two it's free, because there's no drain in the network; there are no outside transmissions going on. The way that call centres work is that when you make a phone call, the first network gets it, and when your network gets it, if it's a call within your network, then that call centre distributes it to the next person. Whereas, Carrier A gets the call, and it's to Carrier B, then it has to call Carrier B's server, and Carrier B has to find the user and then make the phone call. This makes an outside connection, therefore putting more drain on the network.

Sony Ericsson Mobile secret menu

Sony Ericsson Useful Secret Codes For Sony Ericsson Family

How to use the keys :

> means press joystick or arrow keys to right
< means press joystick or arrow keys to left

1) Serial Number / IMEI: *#06# (IMEI is International Mobile Equipment Identity)

XXXXXX//XX//XXXXXX//X

TAC//FAC//SNR//SP

TAC = Type approval code of your sony ericsson Mobile
FAC = Final assembly code of your cellphone
SNR = Serial number of your sony ericsson Phone
SP = Spare

2) Secret menu / Software version: >*<<*<* (Service Menu)

The Service Menu will appears containing following information (varies based on SE models)!
1. Service Info
a. Software Version
b. SIMlock
c. Configuration
2. Service Setting
a. Contrast
3. Service Test
a. Display
b. LED/Illumination - *This test is very cool
c. Keyboard
d. Buzzer
e. Vibrator
f. Earphone
g. Microphone
h. Real Time Clock
i. Joystick Counter*

3) Reset Theme <0000>

4) Network Information <**<>

9) Programming Checks: >*<<*<*> or >*<<*<*>

10) Phone Test: 904059 + > (to exit 3 + <) If you have any more so kindly post reply to share your knowledge, which will be more useful for others…….