The Multifarious 'G'
With 2G and 3G making the headlines throughout the year, let us explore the opportunities that the world of mobile repairing has to offer

By Divyadarshini Patel
Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” These words are a preamble to an epic story on the history of modern communication as they formed the first statement to be successfully transmitted through a telephone device invented by Alexander Graham Bell. The device, which used a liquid transmitter, was first used by Bell to summon his secretary Watson to his room. Since then, the story has unfolded in the most beautiful manner with fascinating and absorbing chapters in each episode. We will be skipping the initial episodes here and jump to the chapter titled – ‘Mobile Revolution’. The story gets interesting when mobile communication devices started a revolution, which threatened the very existence of wired telephones. The first generation of mobile phones that evolved redefined modern communication and took over the world with its immense capabilities and scalability. This generation was thereafter termed as 1G and they were just minions in comparison to what their forthcoming generations were going to be.

First Generation (1G)
The advent of mobile phones saw the introduction of wireless sets, which are now known as the Brick phones due to their weight and design; they were based on wireless analog technology standards, which originated in the 1980s. We have all studied the differences between analog and digital signals in our primary physics class and it was because of these differences and the quite obvious superiority of the digital signals that this first generation of mobile phones phased out very quickly. Analog signals were not secure; they carried huge amount of disturbance and the cost of keeping the signals in their original form over long distances was not possible. The speed limitation was also a major cause of the downfall of 1G as it could only deliver speeds of up to 14.4 kbps at its peak, which meant a mere 1kbps of speed during normal usage.

Second Generation (2G)
With every technology, the first few steps are very frail; then it learns from its mistakes and betters itself and after that it just takes some vivid imagination and invention to scale the technology to the heights, which seem beyond imagination. 2G was a step where the innovators learnt from their previous mistakes and beefed up the technology, which was involved in transmission of voice data over wireless means. The time came when fully digitised 2G networks replaced the analog signals. The 2G era saw the dawn of the commercial GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standards. This overcame most of the shortcomings of the 1G network, the most vital being the security protocols. The phone conversations were now digitally encrypted securing the voice data travelling through the sources. A wider spectrum allowed far more variety of data to travel using the same devices and 2G introduced further data services for mobile such as SMS (Short Messaging Service) and e-mails. In addition to GSM, 2G could also utilise other digital protocols like CDMA, TDMA, iDEN and PDC to transfer voice data, which increased its scalability. Since the digital signals required less radio power to receive and send radio signals, the mobile phones too became smaller in size. The low power emissions from the handsets also reduced the health concerns, which was a major issue in the first generation handsets. Though the second generation services had some technical concerns of their own, but these concerns were timid as compared to the improvements introduced over 1G.

Third Generation (3G)
The key to success is hunger – hunger to grow, to learn more, hunger to expand the horizons of one’s wildest dreams and beyond. Technology does not proper by itself, it does so with the help of the innovators; and the innovators behind the mobile technology were not ready to stop at just delivering a robust means of voice transmission coupled with a few handy data services. That was just one place for them from where they were ready to tread further. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defined the third generation of mobile telephony standards through International Mobile Telecommunications – 2000 (IMT-2000) to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth and support more diverse applications. The upgrade from 2G to 3G was more evolutionary than revolutionary. The existing mobile networks were now infused with technologies, which forever changed the way consumers would use their mobile phones. Technically, 3G led to the establishment of two distinct 3G families – 3GPP and 3GPP2.
India entered the 3G arena with the launch of 3G enabled Mobile and Data services by Government owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Later MTNL launched 3G in Delhi and Mumbai. Tata Docomo is the first private sector service provider to have launched 3G services in November 2010. The rates of data transfers have radically increased and the range for transfers is 144Kbps to 3.1 Mbps (peak), which facilitates the use of internet browsing, picture and video messaging and also handheld GPS usage.

Fourth Generation (4G)
The third generation provides everything a mobile user can dream of. His/her requirement of a noise free, clear and crisp communication of voice from a mobile device had been long met and is no longer an ordeal. Other fantasies of SMS, internet, mail and picture messaging too are now carried out at amiable speeds. The question now is – what next? Why the fourth generation and what will it offer us? For a 4G system, the guidelines have not yet been clearly defined. Ultra-broadband internet access for smart phones where speeds will reach up to 1Gbps; video streaming, video conferences, uploads and downloads of enormous data packets, online gaming and ever ready connectivity to the world using smart phones will be the era of 4G. 4G system will be a fully IP based system – much like the modern computer networks. When fully implemented, 4G is expected to enable pervasive computing, in which simultaneous connections to multiple high-speed networks will provide seamless handoffs throughout a geographical area.

Mobile Devices
Decking up the mobile communication technology also meant radically upgrading the end user hardware. As already explained that the transition from 1G to 2G saw the mobile devices getting smaller, portable and healthier, the advent of 3G induced an evolution in the cell phone technology, which boosted the mobile market like a rapid chemical reaction. Consumers of the mobile operators started to do more than just talk, they messaged, watched videos, checked mails, connected to friends using messengers and a whole lot of other activities. The cell phone manufacturers had to keep a close eye on the evolving technology and the services they had to offer in order to provide hardware compatibility for the same. Mobile phones are not bought just for making voice calls these days. Now the consumer looks for technologies such as Bluetooth, wi-fi connectivity, internet browsers, social appellate, mail configuration, multimedia players and of course – upward compatibility. The cell phones now carry EDGE and GPRS (introduced in 2G) as a standard feature. A whole range of ‘3G-enabled’ mobiles was launched in the market with the introduction of the technology. In the present times, everyone wants to be up to date with the current technology and enjoy its exploits.

Malfunctioning
But do these ultra modern, next generation mobile devices come cheap? The answer is – No! An average Joe phone will carry all the necessary features but if you want to get your hands onto a real smart-phone, then you will have to drill a hole in your pocket larger than you wanted to. And what if these devices malfunction? Well, as robust as they come these days, a saying goes around in the market for these smart phones - the more things they do – more are their chances of getting busted! When the video calling camera gets soggy, when the wi-fi receiver fails, when Bluetooth can’t connect or when your mailbox seems to have gone corrupt – you just can’t go ahead and buy another smart phone! This is the time when your friendly neighborhood repair center comes into play.

Mobile Repairing
These repair centers have been able to create ample employment opportunities worldwide in general and in India in particular. There are many institutes throughout the country who provide short-term mobile repair courses to students; the duration and fees for such courses are minimal. The institutes also help the students with placements. Ravi Rajani, ex-faculty at Hi-Tech Institute of Advance Technologies and currently running his own mobile repair shop in Karol Bagh, New Delhi shares his inputs on the subject. He said, “The courses are easy in spite of the technical elements involved. The two-three months that you spend at any institute help you gain knowledge along with hands on training given in the institute’s workshops. They teach the basics first and then maneuver the course towards software repairing, driver installations etc. Mobile repair courses have been a boon to many underprivileged students; the fees are affordable, the duration of the course is very less compared to the time required for other advanced courses and moreover, repair shops can offer a starting package of around ` 5,000-6,000 per month, whereas, if you get a good company to work with they might even offer ` 8,000-10,000 per month to
freshers.” Ravi has been in the mobile repair business for over 5 years now and he affirmed that there are no down falls or loopholes that one needs to worry about. Perhaps that is the reason why he thinks that this business could also be a means of self-employment for people who can manage to set up their own shop in a decent locality.

Becoming an engineer
Rekha Tanna, Manager for the Mobile repair engineers’ team at HCL Infosystems talked about how she got into the field. She had done her MCA but did not manage to secure good marks; this resulted in difficulty for her to find a job. She got an offer from HCL then, as a mobile repair engineer. She took the job as she was offered a good salary package and was promised on-the-job training as well. She started as a trainee 3 years back and is now the team manager, handling 35 mobile repair engineers. Right now, while doing the managerial tasks, she remembered the days she had spent as an executive, saying, “I remember running around Delhi to do my job. There were times when I had to be on site visits for months in a row. That helped me progress, both as a professional and as a person; my initial experience helped me in handling client calls and assisting them on the spot with their mobile device problems. I kept climbing the ladder one step at a time and today I am enjoying a commendable position in the organisation.” She feels that becoming a mobile repair engineer may not be lucrative but it certainly fulfills its promise, empowering a person to earn his/her daily bread and butter.

With each new generation of cell phones being launched in the market, the opportunity for mobile repairing grows by leaps and bounds. Savvier the technology more is the demand for an engineer deft in tackling these phones. Smart phones and androids are just the beginning of a major hardware upgrade, which requires constant attention; hence the role of mobile repair engineer becomes more vital through time. If you want to spread your wings in this domain just remember – there is plenty of sky in which you can open up your wings.

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