Carriers, Phones... USA vs Bolivia

When you go to a different country there are things that are not the same as in your country, culture, food, people, but there are other differences that nobody talks about. I think it is interesting how different mobile services are here to my country. There are two main differences between mobile services here and in Bolivia, the actual services and the way you get your cell phone.

In Bolivia most of the people opt for pre-paid services because there is no contract and no commitment is needed. You just need to buy your SIM card and charge credit that you will spend according to your needs. Making calls, texting and mobile Internet by this kind of service is often expensive. There is the post-paid service as well, which requires you to sign a monthly contract but you still have limitations on how much you can call or use the other services.

Here in USA mobile carriers offer a wide variety of post-paid plans that require a signed contract for two years. Usually they offer unlimited plans for calls, texting as well as for mobile Internet so that you don’t have to worry about how much you use any of these services. There are a couple of carriers that offer pre-paid as well but you need to purchase a minimum of 30 dollars that you can only spend in one month.

When it comes down to cell phones in Bolivia you can buy them in the unofficial market, which is the most popular way to acquire a nice cell phone. Carriers would offer to give some discounts according to the amount per month you will be paying; these discounts often do not surpass half of the price of the cell phone you will be getting.

Here most carriers will offer you free phones for a 2-year contract according to the kind of cell phone you want. Carriers here have a wide variety of offers; you can get a cell phone with a contract and get a huge discount, and the rest of the phone price will be paid as you consume the service.

So there are pros and cons when it comes down to mobile technology and services, if you don’t like commitment and you don’t care about state-of-the-ark technology you can get prepaid. If all you care about is technology and connection a good post-paid contract is your best choice.

We can say that the most convenient way of being communicated here in the USA is by having an unlimited contract, whereas in Bolivia your best choice is to have prepaid so that you keep track of how much you spend.

Why did I decide to study Telecommunications Engineering?

I like Telecommunications Engineering because I like to know how electronics work, and also because I like the communication between devices and people. I also know how technology facilitates our lives.

Ever since I was a little kid I liked science, because I always had a big curiosity for the way everything was made and how everything worked. When I was between 4 to 6 years old my father bought a computer that was very expensive around those years. When he bought it, I got very excited even though computers didn’t have games like they do today. So I started to tamper on it, I learned a couple of  programming commands, and I learned to enjoy writing commands and programs. After a couple of months, I broke our computer; it didn’t work anymore. But as easy as it was to ruin it I was able to fix it too. I don’t remember how it happened but I did fix it. Since then I haven’t stopped tampering nor fixing electronic devices.

When I was about 18 I started to study computers more deeply. I signed up for a Hardware, Software, and Information Technology course at an institute called Atenea; which was a very good institute back in my hometown, La Paz. There I learned so many things about hardware related to software and how those two parts could communicate and interact. Then I learned about networking and I thought that was a marvelous thing. I learned how to send messages or even files between computers within seconds. Then I appreciated technology as what it is, a way to facilitate work and communication.

After a couple of years I got into college and I chose this career for my appreciation of technology. I learned about programming in a deeper way. I learned how to get so deep that I could understand computer behavior. Then I learned how communication had changed in just a couple of years. Now communication doesn’t need wires to connect one computer to the other. Wireless technology has changed the course of communications because nowadays almost every kind of connection is done through the air. This kind of technology has changed the way you relate to everybody and everything else; that’s why I love it, and that’s why I chose to get deeper into this career.

Electronics have become a huge part of our daily lives, communication between devices, and even more. All of these aspects have influenced the way we live today and definitely has changed the way we see computers and people, and also has changed the way we manage our relationships with them. And that’s why I will keep pursuing the knowledge of technology.

BEST ADVANTAGES OF THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 2, STUDYWISE…

The Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 is the perfect gadget for a student because of its features, student-oriented applications, and many other tools.

Its features are very good since it has the latest technology built into it. It has an eight Megapixel camera with LED flash and HD video recording. It also has a 5.5-inch screen, which is a very confortable size since it is large enough to do whatever you want. You can also take advantage of the S-Pen, which lets you customize the writing and drawing as if you were writing on a piece of paper without the concern of having to use so much paper to do assignments, homework, etc.

            There are many very useful things that are available in the Note 2. First, the most important part of this phone is the use of the S-Pen. The S-Note application is the best tool a student can have, and it has three modes Text, Productivity and Drawing modes.

Text mode has the handwriting recognition, which allows you to create documents or create any kind of papers. Productivity has a very unique feature, it recognizes math formulas, not only by typing but also by handwriting the formulas. Lastly, Drawing mode has the classic IPaq-like drawing application, which allows you to take handwritten notes, draw, edit, actually your imagination is your only limit.

            Among other useful applications we have Google Maps, Dropbox, Google Drive and Paper Artist. Google Maps has the famous Navigation System so that you don’t get lost.

Dropbox allows you to store any kind of files on the cloud so that they are available wherever you go. Google Drive is another option for storing and sharing various types of files using the same Google account you use for Gmail, the Play Store, and every other Google product. Paper Artist is a very different even unique way to edit pictures or photos in your free time.

            More specifically while studying English as a second language, and even more specific at the ELC you will need other applications. Google Translate, not only for translating from your native language to English and vice versa but also for translating for others when there are problems communicating with each other. Flipboard and News and Weather have very cool articles you can read. whenever you have free reading assignments. And last but not least, the S-Planner is the best calendar/agenda application that includes full support for the S-Note. You can take notes, pictures, even voice recordings and convert them into calendar entries. You can also make use of the S-Pen to handwrite over your calendar.

So features like the camera, the famous S-Pen, and all the thousands of applications for this Smartphone make the study experience far more enjoyable and easy.