Proficiency Badge : Communicator

Task 1: Demonstrate how to use a private and public telephone and if possible, use a phone card

This is an example of the private phone I have at home. To use the phone, lift up the handset from the cradle and dial the phone number that you would like to call and click on the button that look like a phone. The number you dial would ring and you will get to talk to the person you called. Once you are done, press the hang-up button.

Public phones are now very hard to find. There used to be a lot of public phones in Singapore but as more people own a mobile phone there is very few that can be found. This is an example of public phones that can be found in Singapore. You can use either a coin or a phone card to make a phone call. I found a public phone in the school canteen. Unfortunately I don't have a camera to record how ti use it as I can't bring electronic to school so I am describing it here. To use a public phone, insert either the coin or a phone card and dial the number you like to call. Do note that public phones are charged by the minute so we must have enough money to make a long phone call.

Task 2: Know how to make an emergency telephone call

· To make an emergency call for the police, go to keypad and dial 999 and press the call button.

· To make an emergency call for a non-emergency ambulance, go to keypad and dial 1777 and press the call button.

· To make an emergency call for an emergency ambulance, go to the keypad and dial 995 and press the call button.

Task 3: Select 3 of the activities

(a) Find out and make use of at least two of the following: v) mobile phone vi) Electronic mail.

Mobile Phone

Mobile phone is the type of phone that is commonly use now. This is my mobile phone which I got when I was 9 years old. It is convenient to have a mobile phone with you at all times so we can call our parents if we need to. There are different types of mobile phones with different operating systems. One is iOS and the other is Android.

We can use the mobile phone to call or text someone, browse the internet, send emails, borrow books, read library books and even to play games.

To use a mobile phone to make a call, press the phone icon, select the person you want to call from the contact list and press the green phone sign to call. Hang up when you are done by pressing the red phone sign. I use my mobile phone to stay in touch with my parents when I am not around them. I also keep in touch with my friends and family through Whatsapp and email my teachers when I need to submit my homework during HBL.

Electronic Email

I used electronic email to reach out to my tuition teachers during Circuit Breaker and also to contact my school teachers during HBL. For example, recently I emailed my Akela of my scouting blog entries, my Science teacher of the progress my Meal worm and my art teacher of a YouTube video I made to on origami to share with the class. This is an example of an email I sent to my Art Teacher.

To send an email, we must first have an email account. Before Circuit Breaker last year, all of us were given a student Gmail account or you can set up a personal Gmail account by signing up at www.gmail.com. We can you use Gmail on our computers, mobile phones or tablets. The following steps are based on a mobile Gmail app. First, press the compose button at the bottom right of your screen. Next, type in who you want to send your email to before typing in the subject if needed. Thirdly, type in the message that you will like to send. Lastly, press the send button and you have sent your email! It’s almost the same on the computer, normally click on the button that says COMPOSE or New Mail.

(h) Send an SMS using a mobile phone

Sometimes it’s better to send text messages as the other person may not be able to answer a phone call. In the olden days, people send text messages using SMS. This is how we can send an SMS on a mobile phone.

Nowadays we use WhatsApp or Telegram to send text messages instead of SMS. It is very similar to sending an SMS. Select who you like to send the message to, type the message and send.

(i) Find out about the 3G and or 4G (LTE) Networks and explain, in your own words, how it works to transmit data wirelessly.

3G, 4G and 5G are all mobile network technology. Our mobile phones use this network to connect to the satellite tower of the 3G/4G/5G stations and this allows us to use our mobile phones to access the internet. 3G is the third generation of mobile network technology. 4G (LTE) is the fourth generation and 5G is the fifth generation. 3G has a speed of 144 kilobits per second, 4G (LTE) has a speed of 100 megabits per second and 5G has a speed of 1 to maybe 10 gigabits per second. 4G is an upgrade of 3G and 5G is an updated version of 4G. Currently, Singapore is testing the 5G network. 5G is really fast.

Here is an example, if you are using a mobile phone with 3G to watch Netflix in the MRT, the video would be lag and speech may be slow like “Hello……What….Are….You………Doing……….?” as the speed of 3G is slow whereas at 4G or 5G, the video would be streamed smoothly and in High Definition.

Though the 5G network is still in testing, 5G phones are available for purchase in Singapore currently if you are willing trial the 5G network or you can purchase a 5G phone but use 4G until the 5G network is stable.