The Consumers Union

On Wednesday, August 19th, we went to the Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports) in Yonkers and were given a tour of their testing labs, where engineers determine the best of everything we buy: cleaning sprays, ovens, humidifiers, cribs, video cameras, cell phones and more! It looked like a great place to work - like being in a fun high school science lab. We got a special tour of the lab where they test cell phones out of the box and interviewed Gerard Catapano who is in charge of electronic equipment testing labs...



Here is a link to a useful article on cellphone service from Consumers Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/january/electronics-computers/cell-phone-service/overview/cell-phone-service-ov.htm

-Helki

Time Flies When I'm Talkin on The Phone

Photoshop Image by Leon Richardson

Acting with a Big Phone

this is one of my acting experiences! although i thought i looked crazy it was fun. the big phone is attached to a tower and airwaves which represent buying a phone that comes with a plan. the same day we also performed a skit about dropped calls. it was hilarious but cute lol! even though it was a hot day in new york it was very fun and i would definitely do it all again! -Brianna

Interview with Verizon Wireless

We went to a Verizon building where we interviewed Michelle who is in charge of Verizon's wireless network in New York City and David who was a PR representative. They explained how a cell phone works. Once the signal leaves the cell phone they enter a room or building called the switching station. Then the signal would then be transported to the phone on the other end. They also showed us these switching rooms where a bunch of computers and machines contained our voice mails, text messages and calls. David said these machine were the brains . They also explained that the reason there is an early termination fee is because they are subsidizing these phones and if they just sell you the phone they wont be making any profit. the early termination fee pays for the phone and they said that it is the same amount as if you stayed with the plan till the end of your contract. Also they both continued to sell their company and explain how their network had the best service coverage.

Interview with Tim Wu

On August 2,2010 we interview Tim Wu. He is a professfor at Columbia. What outstand me the most in this interview is when I realize that all the cellphone companys is only focus how they going to make money. I made the poster below before the interveiw Tim. It was a highway with T-moblie, Spirnt, AT&T, Verizon and they are not a loud to cross each other lane. Tim said a metaphor like this "The companies will not cross each other lanes but trys to be better then each other."

-Lashawn Bourne

Telecommunications Highway

Lashawn 7/30/10

The way our cell phone providers use the radio spectrum in the USA is like dividing a public highway into exclusive lanes that cant be shared.

Interview wih Sascha Meinrath

On Thursday July 29, 210 Brianna and I went to Washington D.C. to interview Sascha about how the spectrum is regulated and how that affects cell phone services. His job is the director of the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation and he recommends policies to the FCC about how cell phone companies and the spectrum should be regulated. He mentioned that if we have more unlicensed spectrum available to consumers we would be able to use the spectrum more efficiently and it would be more affordable.

This is a picture of Brianna and I in front of the White House

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This is a picture of Brianna holding mesh
network router. Mesh networks allows everyone
who uses it to talk directly to one another.

The Airwaves

Photoshop images by Brianna and Lashawn

The path of a cell phone signal

Kelvin, Brianna, Leon and Lashawn made these posters using Photoshop..

Photoshop Posters

Here are a few photo shopped photos. Hope you enjoy them!

This photo is by Brianna

This photo is by Brianna

This photo is by Lashawn

Interview with Lou Manuta

This photo is by Leon and Kalvin

On July 20,2010 we interviewed Lou Manuta who works for PULP (the Public Utility Law Projects). We interviewed him over the phone in the CUP office. He is a lawyer that helps his clients file complaints against their cell phone provider. Most of their complaints were about termination fees and bill shock. Through out this interview we learned that cell phone companies aren't regulated at neither city, state, or national levels. Therefore cell phone companies are allowed to do what ever they want legally. We also learned that cell phone providers don't pay for text messaging and yet they charge their customers for it.
He sent us this link to an article that talks about how cell phone companies over charge for text messaging.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=7855563&page=1

-Jackie

Interview with Deepa Fernandes

On July 19, 2010 we went to Manhattan to interview Deepa Fernandes who is the director of the People's Production House. The People's Production House is and organization that provides media training to community groups and youth. As we interviewed Deepa, she brought up a couple of good points about how cell phones can be used besides texting and calling our friends. However, certain people can't get access to a cell phones due to how expensive cell phone plans are. She advocates for people who receive low incomes, immigrants and groups such as street vendors so that they can get access to a cell pone. She gave an example about a single parent who works two jobs to provide for her children cannot make it to PTA meetings because they are too busy working. However, if this mother had a cell phone she would be able to receive texts or even send texts to other parents in the meeting to help improve her children's education. -Jackie

Interview with Howard Huang

Hey this is Jackie again and on July 12, 2010 we went to interview Howard Huang. He is an electrical engineer for Bell Labs and he creates the info-structure for cell phone networks. We learned how a cell phone works. Some of the highlights of the interview was that we became aware of certain networks such as the mesh network. The mesh network is a network where cell phones can talk directly to one another, instead of going through the cell phone network tower. He used the example, lets say your in a cafeteria and you want to text all of your friends all at once directly then the mesh network will help you do that because all of the phones are in a way creating their own network separate from a t-mobile or sprint network.

Learning to Make a Video

Hey, this is Jackie part of the summer youth employment program at the St John's Recreation Center. This summer some teens and I have been assigned to create a documentary with an organization called the Center for Urban Pedagogy about how cell phones work. The first week we made a script based on text language. We later took the script and created a parody of the Cingular commercial. Before we created this skit we first learned the basics of using a video camera and how to adjust the audio levels. Then we had to edit the original video by cutting certain parts out, rearranging scene order and insert the translation of text language. This is the final edited version of our video. Hope you enjoy it!