TopSavings.Net Blog - Telecommunications and Marketing

Cell Phones and Pregnancy

I received this email today in light of of my blog post about Cell Phones and Cancer. Pregnancy and cell phones is now the research I will be keeping an eye out for. It’s late tonight so look for more information soon. Here is a copy and paste of the email I received tonight. If anyone has more information on cell phones and pregnancy feel free to post it here.

EMAIL:

Some MAJOR news was released today and I thought you might want to
know about it.

In a study done jointly by U.S. and Danish researchers the offspring
of mothers who used a cell phone during pregnancy showed a dramatic
increase in behavior issues such as hyperactivity and emotional
problems.

The cell phone only had to be used two or three times a day during
the pregnancy so it wasn’t as if these moms were spending hours and
hours on their cell phones. Translation: it didn’t take much “exposure”
in the way of proximity to cause this.

And get this. Among those children who had also used a cell phone
by age 7 the incidence of behavior problems was 80% higher!

Researchers were completely baffled and have no explanation for
the findings at this point. It isn’t a proximity issue for the
fetus since the majority of mothers carried their cell phones in
a bag or purse during their pregnancy and not on their bodies.
So it apparently has nothing to do with how close the phone was
to the body.

Here’s my thought. Might the reason for this be the harm being done
by the information-carrying radio wave and it’s affect on the cell
membrane? Everyone seems to be focusing on the proximity issue and
not the information-carrying radio wave. Anytime you affect the
cell membrane you’re going to affect receptors and neurotransmitters. And
anytime you affect the cell membrane problems like this can occur. After
all, the cell membrane is where the communication process occurs in
the first place. We’re dealing with a developing nervous system here.
But that’s just my opinion.

It’s also worth noting in this study that 30% of Danish seven-year
olds were already using a cell phone! That’s right! 30%! Now why
does a seven-year old need a cell phone in the first place?

After reading this information I hope you won’t let your seven-year old use a
cell phone. Or any of your kids for that matter.

And I hope you’ll share this information with all the pregnant moms you know, too.
For this could have major implications if the study can be duplicated.

FYI the study will be published in the July issue of the journal
Epidemiology.

Maybe something like this will finally begin to get everyone’s attention about the huge
wireless problem we have. I sure hope so.

Posted in Phone Companies (Providers) | No Comments »

Collect Calls to Cell Phones

Not too sure if you can celebrate this news or not, but NCIC and 3Ci have made collect calls to cell phones possible. What could have made this technology come forward and for what main purpose. For emergencies? Nope …

The inmate population previously was unable to connect to loved ones, friends, or what have you due to the inmate collect calling system. NCIC is looking to be making big money with their new technology as more collect calls get through to cell phone users from prisons and jails nationwide.

Full Story

For temporary insight, yes, it’s all nice in my book but the whole thing holding this technology up is money and prisons are becoming more lucrative sources of revenue. If technologies are being created to fill a gap solely based on the nation’s prison population it is obvious there are problems with this country.

My second gripe is the collect call charges. Yes, it’s great that some money can be retained from our prison population, but who is actually paying the bill? The person who owns the cell phone is the one paying all the charges and it ultimately becomes punishment to anyone knowing someone who lands in jail or prison.

Crime is big money in the prevention industry as well as with jail, prisons, and courts. It makes me wonder why schools still have to send children door to door selling magazine subscriptions and holding bake sales with all these different sources of criminal revenue (including traffic tickets) coming into state and local governments.

Hooray for NCIC, I’m sure the executives will enjoy a hearty pension from the various collected revenues from the poor and desperate population that is incarcerated and their families. Remember … poverty triggers many crimes and collect calling is expensive enough to send someone robbing a bank I think.

I know I have felt desperate times when faced with an expensive collect call bill so I can relate somewhat. Calls maybe not from prison, but all the same $100.00+ collect call bill when I am down to my last penny. I didn’t go robbing a bank, but I can imagine somewhere down the line the connection between a collect call and a poor family and something going wrong. Prisonomics I will call this booming new economy.

Upside, if your family member has an emergency it won’t be long before they can collect call you.

Posted in Phone Companies (Providers) | No Comments »

New Options for Best Rate High Speed Internet Page

Previously when you filled out the instant quote form for our DSL, Satellite, and Cable Internet page you HAD to have a land line number and ONLY high speed Internet offers were available. Officially today you now can shop Television, Phone, and Internet bundle packages for your region and use a cell phone number.

I have not much to say about this other than I’m proud to announce it and hope many of you take advantage of the opportunity to compare and save through TopSavings.Net when the time arises to shop for high speed Internet or bundled packages.

Posted in Internet Companies (Providers), Our Products | No Comments »

Advertising Your Business Online Without a Website

Many business owners that do traditional brick and mortar transactions have yet to tap into the Internet consumer and business market due to the belief that you need a website. Nothing could be further than the truth and as a WikiAnswer supervisor I have answered many questions about marketing and not one offline business asks about how to advertise online without a website. It surprises me really knowing of the substantial reach and earning potential that a business can achieve online.

FREE Online Listings

Not only can a brick and mortar business actually advertise online, but they can increase their exposure free of charge as well. Yahoo and Google both have a local listings page that a business can list for free. When searchers want to search for local businesses for goods and services the savvy use these local searches and as a matter of fact, some of these listings appear in the normal search functions as well with related keyword searches.

When adding your business be sure to add at least 5 instances of a keyword for your industry in your description, but make sure to spread them out and not cram them into one paragraph. This can be seen as spamming and cause a not so favorable ranking for your listing.

Paid Advertising

There is a company named Ingenio that offers PPC (pay per call) advertising. This company was recently acquired by AT&T and offers an excellent opportunity for local business advertising as well as nationwide advertising. Through their network of local directory sites which has millions of viewers each month they place an advertisement for your business. The ads look a lot like Google AdWords however these ads do not get clicked on. Instead of the advertisement being clicked on, a toll free number is advertised. When someone calls that number it redirects to your business number. The toll free number is used to track reader response and you pay only for calls generated through the advertising.

The service works on a bidding system that starts at $2.00 a call so you will want to try to get in on your specific industry locally before your competitors do. The more competitors there are, the more per call you will pay to get listed. To date it only costs $25.00 to get started so you can test how well this service works for your business with very little start up capital.

If you have any resources you know of that work well for businesses without websites ONLINE feel free to comment this blog!

Posted in Marketing and Advertising | 2 Comments »

Bragging Rights

Well as most of you DON’T know I like to periodically do Yahoo Answers. I’m not popular in any one particular world online or off but I have some bragging rights. I like to answer questions in the the business marketing sector and my most favorite is when business people ask for slogans or catch phrases. I love the creativity it stirs in me however my answer never was chosen as best until now! A company actually is using my creativity for their catch phrase in their advertising.

Naturally here is the link: My Award Winning Yahoo Answer (yay!)

I personally feel I am a genius when it comes to catch phrases or slogans, this is my one time to shine and pretend to be of superior intellect. Okay, so I am going overboard now … I know I know. Time to shut up.

It’s these little rewards and recognition in life that makes it worth living. I will bask in anything I can, and this is one of those anythings. By the way the company is Amana which is actually a good sized company, so I have some marketing credit to add to my personal resume.

Posted in Marketing and Advertising | No Comments »

Mobile TV Channels Launch May 4th

Wow, technology is on a roll. Officially tomorrow AT&T will be launching their streaming television for cell phones. There are catches of course … such as the need for an AT&T phone (of course) and it must be equipped with Qualcomm MediaFLO. AT&T is showing some innovation in the technology arena it seems … perhaps AT&T are indeed on a quest for world domination. :-S

Full story available at IntoMobile.com

On a personal note I wonder how many people might try to watch streaming television while driving. I know some people that actually will text while driving. I have a story on cell phone use that personally affected me that I should share, but that’s another post.

Anyone trying this service tomorrow please fill us all in on the Internet world of it’s greatness or the lack of. Yes, post it here. I have purposely made posting a non registered event so a line or two should be easy for you.

Posted in Phone Companies (Providers) | No Comments »

Brain Cancer and Cell Phones

There has been a controversy for some time on the health risks that cell phones pose to humans through their use. While many have claimed most studies to be inconclusive a new recent study has been conducted that claims to have proven and shown an increase in cancer risks through the use of cell phones.

In Stockholm, Sweden a recent study conducted by the Karolinska Institute found that there was an increased risk of brain cancer in certain parts of the brain through the regular use of cell phones. The study consisted of 634 subjects over a two year period. Of the subjects 209 already had brain tumors and 425 were completely healthy. This most recent study took place over a 2 year period and showed that increased microwaves from the cell phones did indeed pose a health risk to the brain. Due to the small amount of subjects however a larger study is being done with 3,000 subjects with results due out late in 2009.

News Link

SAR Websites:

Cnet SAR Site

SAR Shield

While it is not good to fall into a hysteria over every study, enough studies have been done on microwaves to prove that microwaves themselves can indeed pose serious health risks. Cell phones emit microwaves, it’s simple as that.

The FDA claims that cell phones pose no real serious threat to the public however the FDA allows drugs each year to be administered to the public that later get recalled for their dangerous side effects. Common sense will show you that the FDA is not always right when it comes to our safety, so using the FDA as a reliable source for safety information is not my first choice. I prefer to listen to the scientists rather than a government agency that in my opinion is flawed.

Without going into a panic and trashing your cell phone there are some steps to help reduce your microwave exposure from your cellular device. Following these steps may not entirely eliminate the risks but can significantly reduce them.

Step One - Trash Your Analog Phone

Okay, so I said don’t go trashing your cell phone in a panic. All I can say is oops. If you are using an analog cell phone you are increasing your microwave exposure by up to three times the normal compared to digital cell phone usage. If you have a concern for your health you will want to switch to a digital phone which has been shown to have a significant decrease in microwave exposure compared to analog.

Step Two - Use an Ear Piece or Bluetooth

This step has an obvious benefit. By using an ear piece you are directing the microwave exposure away from your head where the vulnerable area of the brains have been shown to have the risk factors. Ear pieces are fairly inexpensive ($20.00) and are considered more acceptable for driving use as well. Many laws have been passed requiring the use of earpieces during driving due to safety concerns so you actually are getting two birds with one stone here. Your cell phone may have even came with an ear piece already so now is the time to dust that baby off and take it for a run. Bluetooth can be pricier but the quality of communication is enhanced for talking in respects to earpieces.

Step Three - Check Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)

SAR is the amount of radio waves absorbed by your body through cell phone use. The FCC has a regulation standard of 1.6 watts or lower per kilogram of flesh weight. Cnet did some recent research on actual SAR levels with cell phones and these were the overall winners for the lowest SAR levels:

CELL PHONE LIMIT SAR 1.6

LG KG800 SAR 0.135
Motorola Razr V3x SAR 0.14
Nokia 9300 SAR 0.21
Nokia N90 SAR 0.22
Samsung SGH-G800 SAR 0.23
Samsung Sync SGH-A707 SAR 0.236
Nokia 7390 SAR 0.26
Samsung SGH-T809 SAR 0.32
Samsung SGH-E910 SAR 0.33
Motorola Razr2 V8 SAR 0.36

Step Four - Don’t Give Kids Cell Phones

With so many studies and controversy over the cell phone slash brain cancer issue it is best to not have a young developing child own a cell phone. This is somewhat problematic because a cell phone can actually increase safety in respect to emergencies and parent to child contact. I say if you must give a child a cell phone make sure they use earpieces, have a cell phone lowest on the SAR level, and limit their use to emergencies.

Step Four - Reduce Usage

We have become reliant on our cell phones and perhaps it’s time we start using them less. This of course is a personal decision and relies on how important this issue is to you. Some call the issue a media scare while others claim it’s an urgent health issue. As a free American it is up to you to decide from the facts if a cell phone is causing you harm. I always say better safe than sorry and you have to admit, how urgent are most of your cell phone calls?

Posted in Phone Companies (Providers) | No Comments »

Super Powers Need to Seperate

(Will we be saluting this flag one day?)

It came to my attention some years ago while brushing up on telecommunications knowledge through the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) website. I forget the exact nature of my visit but one thing I did not forget. While reading various tutorials on laws, regulations, and technology it came to my attention the authors of every word of content I was reading.

I was expecting to see content written by a government author or perhaps a professor, what I found was far different. Yes, they had an author’s name but it was who employed each and every author is what kind of disturbed me. Employer name … AT&T.

It gave me some reason for concern. I NEVER like to see any ONE company being made the authority figure when it comes to our freedoms. Telecommunications to me signifies freedom of speech and choice. When I see any company getting their greedy hands into our already heavily flawed government it makes me wonder the true nature and ambition of that company.

AT&T provides jobs worldwide and obviously fuels an important sector of our economy. The evil is none the less currency (money) and there is nothing wrong in my opinion with that pursuit, but if you have your stake within our government a monopoly can take place through lobbied legislations and regulations that can harm competitors.

I like to see enterprise roam free, but let’s face it, if it is going to be free it has to be separate. It may simply be harmless information donated or contracted through our government, what it looks like though is a monopoly attempt on the telecommunications industry.

I can be wrong about the extensiveness of AT&T’s reach into our government and I have not spent hours studying this subject so if you have something to add to this I will be thrilled to see what you have to write.

Posted in Phone Companies (Providers) | No Comments »