What is Waxing Moon ?
As you’ve probably noticed, the Moon looks different every day. Sometimes we see a new moon, when the Moon is enshrouded in shadow, and other times we see a full moon, when the entire face of the Moon is illuminated. During the first half of a lunar month, when the amount of illumination on the Moon is increasing, astronomers call this a “waxing moon”.
To understand why the brightness of the Moon changes, think about how the Moon orbits the Earth. When the Moon is in between the Earth and the Sun, the side of the Moon facing away from the Earth is fully illuminated, and the side we can see is shrouded in darkness. But the Moon doesn’t stay still, it’s constantly orbiting the Earth, taking 29.53 days to complete the cycle from new moon to full moon and then back again to new moon. As the Moon orbits the Earth, the angle between the Moon and the Sun increases; and this is why you get a waxing moon.
At the beginning, the angle between the Moon and the Sun is 0-degrees. And then over the next 2 weeks, that angle increases. After a week, the angle between the Moon and the Sun is 90-degrees and continuing to increase to 180-degrees, when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth.
When the Moon is halfway illuminated, astronomers call it a first quarter moon. In between the first quarter moon and a full moon, astronomers call the Moon’s phase a waxing gibbous moon.
The reverse of a waxing moon is called a waning moon. This is when the Moon is decreasing in brightness from a full moon back to a new moon.
What is a SIM Card?
A SIM card can come in very handy. For example, let’s say your phone runs out of battery power at a friend’s house. Assuming you both have SIM-based phones, you can remove the SIM card from your phone and slide it into your friend’s phone to make your call. Your carrier processes the call as if it were made from your phone, so it won’t count against your friend’s minutes.
If you upgrade your phone there’s no hassle involved. The SIM card is all you need. Just slide it into the new phone and you’re good to go. You can even keep multiple phones for different purposes. An inexpensive phone in the glove compartment, for example, for emergency use, one phone for work and another for home. Just slide your SIM card into whatever phone you wish to use.
High-end cell phones can be very attractive and somewhat pricey. If you invest in an expensive phone you might want to keep it awhile. Using a SIM card, it is even possible to switch carriers and continue to use the same phone. The new carrier will simply issue you their own SIM card. The phone must be unlocked, however, and operate on the new carrier’s frequency or band.
A SIM card provides an even bigger advantage for international travelers — simply take your phone with you and buy a local SIM card with minutes. For example, a traveler from the U.S. staying in the U.K. can purchase a SIM card across the pond. Now the phone can be used to call throughout England without paying international roaming charges from the carrier back home.
SIM cards are used with carriers that operate on the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network. The competing network is Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a technology created by U.S. company Qualcomm. As of fall 2005, CDMA cell phones and CDMA carriers do not support SIM cards in most parts of the world, though this is changing. A CDMA SIM card called the R-UIM (Re-Useable Identification Module) was made available in China in 2002, and will eventually be available worldwide. Expectations for the future include a cell phone market that supports both SIM (GSM) and R-UIM (CDMA) cards by default.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Prepaid Cell Phones?
It seems that nowadays, everybody has a cell
phone. If you want to join the wave but cannot or don’t want to sign a
binding contract, prepaid cell
phones may be the ideal choice. While under a regular contract you are
forced to pay a fixed monthly fee, prepaid cell phones allow you to pay
as you go, so you can control your spending. If you are considering
prepaid cell phones, here is a breakdown of the advantages and
disadvantages of this type of phone:
ADVANTAGES
- The main advantage of prepaid cell phones is the lack of
a contract. Because you are not tied to any specific company or monthly
rate, you can spend as much or as little as your budget allows. If you
don’t use your phone much, prepaid cell phones make a lot of sense, as
you don’t have to pay a fixed amount for minutes that go to waste. - Another good advantage of prepaid cell phones is that there is no credit check required to open an account. This is great for teenagers or for those with no credit history.
- Prepaid cell phones don’t require a deposit to open an account, unlike many other plans.
- Prepaid cell phones are a great option for parents who
want their children to have a phone but want to have control over how
much they spend.
DISADVANTAGES
- Prepaid cell phones are not free, as is the case with
phones when you sign a year-long contract. This means a larger initial
investment. Also, not all phone models work with prepaid plans, which
means you have a limited selection on the type of phone you can use. - Prepaid cell phones are more expensive to use. The cost
per minute is usually 2-3 times higher than the price per minute under
contract plans. - Unless you are organized and keep track of your credit, you run the risk of running out of minutes when you most need them.
What are Anytime Minutes?
Anytime minutes may also not apply when you have shared calling plans, special numbers you can call for free, or a variety of other arrangements. For example some companies offer free calls between family members. This means that even if you call a specified family member during the anytime minutes stretch of time, your access to anytime minutes does not diminish, and if you restrict your calls, you have less chance of being charged extra for more minutes than your plan allows.
The standard structure of early cell phone plans virtually always included anytime minutes, in amounts you could pre-order. Depending on how much you used your cell phone during the day on weekdays, you’d try to hazard a guess at how many anytime minutes you might need in a given month. Exceeding that limit was often very costly, with extensive charges for going over your limits. Since phone bills that exceeded anytime limits shocked people, many cell phone plans now offer more modest charges for exceeding anytime minutes.
Other plans have skirted the issue of anytime minutes entirely. Some companies now offer flat fee wireless or cellular service. These range in price from about 40-70 US dollars (USD) per month. Another way of avoiding anytime minutes is to purchase prepaid cell phones. This keeps track of exactly how much you are using your cell phone, and simply stops providing you with service if you don’t purchase more minutes. For example, it costs about 30 USD for about 120 minutes of time on many pay as you go cells. If you only use your phone for emergencies, that might translate to about 10 USD per month, instead of about 20 USD for the cheapest cell phone plans.
Anytime minutes can also be called whenever minutes, or sometimes service minutes. It’s a clever marketing strategy to refer to the minutes as anytime, since really, these are the minutes you pay for. Naturally you can use them anytime in the specified period, but it’s still usually a better deal to use your phone during evening and weekend hours.
What are Ringbacks?
In order for ringbacks to work, the cell phone subscriber must program the phone to recognize the caller’s phone number. Then, the subscriber programs the phone to play a specific song for the caller as he or she waits for the phone to be answered. In other cases, a cell phone subscriber may select a single song to play for all callers, rather than personalizing the ringbacks.
Ringbacks are not the same as ringtones, as ringtones are the sounds the cell phone subscriber hears when receiving a phone call. Ringbacks are not necessarily heard by the cell phone subscriber, but rather by the caller. Although ringbacks are of radio-quality, they are not intended to play an entire song or to be used just to listen to. Rather, cell phone subscribers purchase them as a way of personalizing their phone and demonstrating what type of music they enjoy.
Ringbacks were originally introduced in Asia, where they were an immediate success. In fact, they quickly outsold ringtones. They were first introduced to the United States in November of 2004 as a partnership between Sony-BMG, Warner Music Group, and Verizon. Today, most ringbacks cost approximately 2 US dollars (USD) and require a monthly subscription fee. These subscription fees are usually about 1 USD.
The use of music on cell phones for ringtones and ringbacks has become such a popular trend that music executives are looking for ways to specifically target their music to this niche. In fact, many music and market analysts believe full track distribution of albums will eventually be completed via cell phone downloads. Many experts believe this will occur within the next couple of years and will account for approximately 28% of total music sales.
