HUH?

In today’s society, Internet access is essential. Most individuals need to get information quick,  anytime, and anyplace. With access to the Internet becoming essential people need to have quick and portable ways to gain access to the Internet at anytime and anyplace.  The cell phone can and does make it possible for individuals to have instant and portable access to the Internet.  With individuals form corporate business people to college students, needing instant access to the Internet it's worth the money for cell phones with Internet capabilities if you don’t already have one.

I surveyed a group of 10 people, some professionals, and some college students. Eight out of the
ten agreed that they would love to have portable Internet access. All ten of these individuals surveyed said it did sound like a good idea to have instant Internet access on the cell phone.    Most of the people surveyed and interviewed agreed that it seemed feasible to offer Internet access via the cell phone. This is in part due to the fact that many people own cell phones today.  One college student who was surveyed and interviewed, Kirsten Johnson, stated that this could really benefit college students.  She also stated that you will find that many college students will have a cell phone before they own a computer.

WHY?

If you think about the college student, these are individuals who must have constant access to the Internet. Not all college students have computers. There are computer labs but college campuses do not have enough computers for every single student that attends that particular college or university (Georgia Southern University has over 15,000 students and only about 400 computers in the library's computer lab). This is why college students could greatly benefit from having mobile Internet access.

HOW?

Cell phone mobile Internet also has numerous benefits for college students’ technology driven lifestyles, like Email! Millions of email messages are sent and replied daily. Some of these emails may be important or just necessary. Having the mobile Internet can give cell phone users instant access to their email anytime, anywhere, and anyplace.  For college students and their professors email is becoming the only means of communication besides time spent in the classroom. This is when email becomes essential, but it still has to be done in a timely manner. With the mobile Internet, a cell phone can make it possible for students to send and respond to emails more at their convenance. No more trying to find a computer just to send or reply to an email.

Mobile Internet can also benefit professors and their students in the classroom. The way in which the mobile Internet could benefit professors and their students is through the Mobile Student Attendance Recording System. This attendance recording system was first introduced at Tower Hamlets College in East London. “The college needed to automate the processing of tutors’ recording student attendance for funding reasons” (“Mobile” sec.1).  This program has been cutting down on cost for the college and conserving time for professors and administrators. The program works by forms being submitted on a cell phone or PDA. The tutors (instructors) are able to download the forms after students have filled them out. The forms are used to track whether a student is: present, absent, sick, or on an educational visit (“Mobile” par. 18).

With the mobile Internet access this type of program could greatly benefit college professors who have large classes.  At some college and universities classes like General Biology can reach capacities of one hundred plus. With these kinds of capacities it can become impossible for professors to actually take attendance.  The Mobile Student Attendance Recording System could make it possible for professors to take attendance via students’ cell phones. The professor would be able to tabulate the number of students in attendance from the attendance forms that students filled out via their cell phones at the start or end of class.

WHAT ABOUT COST?

With all this talk about mobile Internet access on the cell phone, comes the issue of cost. Most cell phone users alone switch cell phones every sixteen months on average . That means the average college aged cell phone user has a cell phone with Internet capabilities.  If not, a cell phone with Internet capabilities is not that expensive. A cell phone with this now "basic" feature can range in price from $50-$150. If you already have service through a cell phone provider like T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint you may be able to upgrade or get a cell phone for a significantly discounted price.

Most of the major cell phone providers offer some type of mobile Internet service.  The major cell phone providers offering mobile Internet services are: T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and Cingular.

As I stated earlier, Internet access is essential.  Internet access is becoming more essential to college students all over.  College students would benefit most form a quick and portable way to gain access to the Internet.  Mobile Internet on the cell phone is a feature that offers so much and the possibilities of mobile Internet are even more promising (i.e. the viewing of actual live video footage). I think that mobile Internet on the cell phone would be a great asset for all college students.

 Works Cited

• Burton, J. (Apr. 2005). Higher ed goes mobile, lightweight. University business. http://universitybusiness.com/ (20 Apr. 2005).
• College students dependent on cell phones,e-mail. (25 Mar. 2005).  News service.  http://web2.unt.edu/news/story/ (20 Apr. 2005).
• Davidson, P. (28, Mar. 2005). Gadgets rule on college campuses. USAtoday. http://www.usatoday.com/money/ (20 Apr. 2005).
• IT facts. http//itfacts.biz.index/ (20 Apr. 2005).
  
• Johnson, Kirsten. personal interview. 2 Apr. 2005.
• Kinzie, S. (12 Feb. 2005). Colleges’ land lines nearing silent end. MSNBC news. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6955990/ (10 Mar. 2005). 
• Mobile-mind, xapwords and verizon wireless help students prepare for college entrance exams. (28 Apr. 2003) http://newsvzw.com/news/2003/ (20 Apr. 2005).
• Mobile student attendance recording system. (20 Apr. 2005).http:// Sybase.com/detail?id=1029441/ (20 Apr. 2005).
• Upoc’s mobile lifestyle and wireless usage survey shows wireless is mainstream 58% of americans 12 and older now own mobile phones. (n.d.).  Prnewswire. http://prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories/ (10 Mar. 2005).