2. Add other advantages and disadvantages of using mobile phone from your own experience.

Advantages:

• you can carry a mobile phone with you so you don’t miss important calls.

• if you are lost, you can call for directions.

• if you are in an accident, you can call the police or ambulance – and if the phone has a camera, you can take pictures of the accident.

• you can listen to music, texts, play games when you’re bored.

• all mobile phones have a calculator and a phone book.

• you can use a mobile phone to call your customers or boss if you are running late to a meeting.

• you can surf Internet & connect with the whole world by mobile.

• you can chat & make video conference.

• keep in touch with friends and family.

• good for emergencies.

Disadvantages:

• mobile phones can be expensive.

• they can damage your ear.

• sometimes the reception is poor in some areas, limiting your connectivity (you can’t talk underground or on planes).

• people use the phone while they are driving, and this can cause problems.

• they can limit your face to face time with friends and family.

• they can get you in trouble at school.

3. Read the text. Choose the most suitable (for you) means of communication and speak about its advantages among others.

Modern means of communication

FAX (Facsimile Telegraphy)– Facsimile telegraphy deals with the transmission of typewritten or handwritten message, drawings, graphics, pictures or any matter which cannot be sent through telegraphs, telephones or teleprinters. This machine operates by converting the variances of light reflected from the image of the original matter into electrical impulses which can be reconverted onto the image form on reception. Connections can be made over very long distances using the public telephone networks or radio links.

Fax is perhaps the speediest system presently available and transmitting and receiving a standard letter size document takes approximately four minutes, irrespective of the amount of matter on it. In this system there is no scope for copying errors and so high order skills required at high skills. Even typed matter can be transmitted more effectively through fax than through the teleprinter since the former completely does away with the element of checking for errors inadvertently incorporated during transmittal of the matter.

ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-Mail)– This, too, is a progeny of computer technology. It facilities the transmittal of messages through the use of computer storage and computer inter-links, thus eliminating postal delays. The message is simply keyed into the system. The signals, converted into digital pulses are stored in the computer’s memory for retrieval. The

message can be retrieved at the recipient’s convenience. Thus apart from being time saving, electronic mail is a more convenient and unobtrusive method of sending a message as the sender can be sure of not disturbing the recipient. In close inhouse communication, links are established either by the CPU of computer network Internet workstations. In distant communication between offices at different locations, an extensive network of microwave or satellite technology is used for the transmission of electronic mail.

Usually group communication takes place in person, in the same room but the new technology provides a facility for discussion with the group of persons on the Internet. You can conduct a meeting, hold a group discussion or brief people scattered across the country or around the world. You can consult a number of experts through computers using decision support systems for their views before making a decision or for finalizing a plan of action. In teleconferencing, the attention is focused on the idea or concept that is being communicated. This is an advantage of the method but sometimes this overemphasis on the message with a corresponding neglect of the person communicating it, may not be fully in tune with the corporate culture, which needs dynamic medium of communication.

CDMA/GSM In cellular service there are two main competing network technologies: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Today, most major cellular carriers use either CDMA or GSM. There are camps on both sides that firmly believe either GSM or CDMA architecture is superior to the other. Cell phones are used to communicate internationally and locally. Cell phones are already used to download music, text messaging, taking pictures, short videos and video games.

SKYPE is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing.

ICQ was a popular instant messaging computer program, which was first developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Digital Sky Technologies (Russia). The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase ‘I seek you’. The first version of the program was released in November 1996 and ICQ became the first Internet-wide instant messaging service, later patenting the technology. ICQ has over 100 million accounts registered.