Mobile phones, wow, one of the beautiful possessions of anybody now-a-days and it is very difficult to find someone who is not having a mobile. More than a luxury, mobile phone has become a necessity to the common man.

The entry of private service providers with CDMA, GSM and of course, 3G technologies changed the Communication sector in India beyond imagination. Mobiles have now become a necessity rather than a life style product.  Day by day new competitors are entering the mobile market by reducing the STD rates and Local call rates. It is really leaving the mobile users to switch over to other service providers.

The mobile users in India has been increased tremendously in last 7-8 years. The most potential and targeted mobile market is the youth market. Mobiles have become a necessity to the youth and to the surprise the service providers could well penetrate into the hearts of the youth in India. Moreover, they well established in the rural areas in India. 

Very recently, TATA DOCOMO has been introduced by offering 1 paisa/second for the STD and Local call. You get a connection for Rupees 100 for which SIM is free. This became a challenge to the rest of the service providers. Immediately MTS offered 1 paisa/2 seconds which means per second cost is 1/2 paisa. Now Vodafone is offering 1 paisa/second. What you have to do is get a new Vodafone connection by paying Rupees 66 for which SIM is free or recharge the existing connection, which provides local and STD at 1 paisa/second for one year. It goes on like this Airtel, Reliance, etc., 

Some of the benefits of having a mobile:

• You can be available round the clock with a mobile phone in hand.
• You can get the up to date information on anything.
• Now a days you can carry internet in your mobile phones
• Lot of business transactions are done through mobile phones
• Short messages or pictures can be sent
• Traders can get the price details of any products without even bringing the products to the market
• Now you can carry your bank in your mobile by doing mobile banking
• Many are carrying their office in their mobile phones

Some of demerits of having a mobile phone:

• Now a days mobile phones are used to detonate bombs
• Mobile phone cameras are used for taking unnecessary photographs
• Constant use of mobile phone creates lot of health problems
• Increased risk of accidents on road
• An addictive relationship which formed between the mobile phone and its user creates lot of problems
• Unless it is used carefully, you will never know that your pocket is getting drained.

I have been a mobile user since 2000, and those days i have been charged for the incoming as well as outgoing calls by the mobile service providers. Then, the size of my Nokia phone had the size of a walkie-talkie.  Now the scenario is changed and you can carry your internet in your phone which is very handy and  you have to pay only for the seconds what you are using and nothing more than that. Anyway thanks to the service providers for bringing down the rates to an unimaginable level. 

I have been using mobile phones for the past 10 years and have understood and faced the advantages and disadvantages of using a mobile phone. Mobile phones are used by almost everybody these days. When you meet a new person or when you have a new friend, one the information that you take from that person is his / her mobile phone number.

Using mobile phones has lots of advantages and disadvantages and most you will be aware of that. Earlier days, when we are out of home or office, we need to search for a public telephone booth to make a phone call, but now, just pick up your mobile phone and dial. I am trying to list the Pros and cons of using a mobile phone in this post.

Advantages of using a mobile phone

Always connected

You are always connected, anybody who knows your mobile number can contact you. If you are travelling out of your territory or to another country, you can use the roaming facility to be connected anywhere and all the time. You can can use features like Text messaging to send messages, receive messages, send greetings, MMS for sending pictures, get information like news, flight timings and many more features

Internet Access

Now most of the mobile phone service providers has GPRS or EDGE or 3G enabled network. You can using internet anytime and anywhere. If you need to check your mail, you can do that when you are travelling or out of your office. You can reply to important messages or emails from your mobile phone itself. Features like Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry are really great. When you receive an email at your server, you get it pushed to your mobile phone. Latest PDA’s, or iPhone are not just mobile phones, you even term it as Mobile Office. I get all my mails pushed to my HTC TyTN II. Even if I am travelling, I am always aware of the important messages and I can respond quickly with out entering my office. I use remote desktop with my Pocket PC using wifi connections, through which I can access all my office desktop computers from anywhere in the World. There is an excellent service called Logmein, which is something I have been using for long time. Other excellent feature of mobile internet is that you can use internet sharing to using internet on your laptop while you are travelling. Just connect your PDA or pocket pc or your mobile phone with GPRS or EDGE or 3G internet and use it on your laptop. Other features like bluetooth, infrared are something very much I use. I do post articles using my mobile phone which is something I really need badly.

Other features like calendars, contacts, task, reminders are really something which cannot be missed. Once you use these kind of features, it will be very difficult to mange your day without a mobile phone.

Disadvantages of using a Mobile Phone

Always Connected

I mentioned this as an advantage above, but that’s a big disadvantage too. You are always connected to the world, you are always responsible for answering a phone call or if you are using a Blackberry or a Windows Mobile 5.0, you get emails which you need to respond instantly because your company or your clients expects this from you. You may not really understand the ill side of this, but your family or kids will feel this much more. If you are on a vacation and you are roaming, your office expects you to reply to the emails or the phone calls that you receive on your mobile. You lose your privacy, your freedom to be free from your daily routine work when you are connected.

Health Hazard

Using mobile phones for long time are definitely bad for health. The radiation caused by Mobile phones are of concern and experts believe that its bad for health.

Using mobile phones are very important in today’s world, but we need to make sure that we get enough freedom and time to spend with our family and make sure we don’t overuse to spoil our health