Global System for Mobile Communication, subject of telecommunication during the 90's, crosses the nation's borders and travels to foreign territory. So if your job frequently takes you outside your own country, a GSM mobile phone is your ideal travel companion.

Until now, one could feel free to communicate only within the confines of the country in which he or she maintained a mobile phone account. The technical standards, different from nation to nation, and thus incompatible, could not accept calls incoming from or outgoing to foreign countries. Today, communication barriers have been taken down: other than the noted Extended Total Access Cellular System (ETACS), a new service called International Radiomobile GSM will be available, based on a innovative digital technology.

The GSM system of communication, introduced in Italy on October 1, 1992, has in particular the capability of International Roaming. In other words, the ability to make and receive phone calls to and from other nations as if one had never left home. In fact, bilateral agreements have been signed which allow GSM Mobile Telephone Clients to continue to take advantage of GSM service with the same mobile phone when travelling to different European and non-European countries. At first, GSM service was conceived as a European standard for digital cellular communication, but instead is becoming a worldwide standard. More than 100 GSM networks will be operative by June 1996. Every day there are 30,000 new clients worldwide and more than 40 million phone calls are made. Before the year 2000 the experts predict that there will be more than 100 million users globally.
The most interesting thing about this system is that, thanks to an innovative technology, with GSM it's not the mobile phone that maintains the client's data, rather a "smart card" also called a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) Card. The SIM is inserted in the phone with which one wishes to place a call. In other words, it is possible to place calls even when one's own GSM mobile phone is not available, or even in those countries which have adopted the GSM standard on different frequencies (DCS1800-PCS1900) as long as one carries a phone capable of receiving the SIM, that is to say, compatible with the GSM standard. There are two types of SIM Card: one the size of a credit card (ISO), used mostly in car phones, and another the size of a stamp (Plug In), used mostly for your typical mobile phone. Despite the different standards, there is a special adapter that is able to transform a SIM card from one format to the other. On a SIM card you can memorise names and their corresponding phone numbers apart from those that you are already able to memorize on the phone's memory. The card is also equipped with two security codes: a PIN and a PUK. The PIN is a four-digit code, modifiable by the subscriber, without which it is not possible to place calls. If the PIN (Personal Identity Number) is incorrectly entered three times in a row the card will not function temporarily. In such a case you would need to use the PUK (Personal Unblocking Key) code to unblock the card. If the PUK is incorrectly entered 10 times in a row the card will no longer function at all and would require replacement. Another fundamental element of GSM is its use of military-level encryption technology to maintain absolute security, both for SIM card authentication and for phone conversations: no one can simulate, via radio, another subscriber or decipher his or her conversations.

Emergency phone calls

Emergency calls can be placed through any GSM network by entering the International Emergency Number 112 from any GSM phone even without a SIM card.

Source: uk.gsmbox.com

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