Glossary
Feel like you’re behind the times with all the jargon? Here’s some terms explained:
Text messaging (SMS)
A mobile can be used to communicate by text. This is sometimes called SMS (Short message service). Children simply type a message using the keypad and send it off to their friend’s number. They can read it and then text a message back. People often use text messaging to communicate quickly and quietly.
Media Messaging/Picture messaging/MMS
They all mean the same thing. Media Messaging is similar to a text message though it may also contain media, including graphics, photos, pictures, images, sounds and/or text
Cameras
Many handsets now contain cameras which let people communicate not just with voice or text, but also with photos and sometimes video. These can be sent to other camera phones or to any email address. They can also receive pictures from anyone who happens to have their number
Prepay/Postpay
There are two ways to pay for your mobile phone calls, texts and other mobile services. If you pay your calls with a bill, you are a contract or post-pay customer. If you top up your phone with credit, you are a pre-pay customer. We call our pre-pay service Speakeasy and in Ireland the majority of customers are pre-pay customers
Premium rate SMS
These are text messages where you send via a 5 digit code to receive back information eg football results, purchase services such as ring-tones or enter competitions. There is an additional charge for these services on top of your standard text charge. Some Premium Rate SMS content is considered suitable only for adults.
Internet Access on Mobile phones
Nowadays all mobile phones can access the Internet. O2 customers can access the internet with either our O2 Mobile Internet and O2 Active services. O2 Active is available on WAP 1.0 phones only.
Social Networking
Social networking sites are personal online pages, where users create a profile for themselves. Users can upload a picture of themselves and can often be "friends" with other users. In most social networking services, both users must confirm that they are friends before they are linked. Social networks usually have privacy controls that allows the user to choose who can view their profile or contact them. Photos, music and video can be shared with the world on these sites through PCs, laptops and mobile phones.
Chat
O2 Ireland does not offer chat services but it is possible to access these services through other companies called content providers. This is usually done through responding to advertisements. It typically involves sending a text message to a mobile phone number which contains 5 digits called a short code and these are charged at more expensive premium rates.
