Glossary of Cell Phone Terms

FM

Facilities Management

GB

Gigabytes of data. Equal to 1,000 MB.

LD

Long Distance

MB

Megabytes of data.

Pooled

When multiple cell phones are set up under a single account with a single carrier, some of the features of the cell phone plan can be ‘Pooled’ or ‘shared.’ For example, our TELUS plans usually include 250 minutes of talk time per phone. If we have 10 phones on the account, each month there are 2,500 minutes in the ‘pool’. Any of the 10 users can ‘withdraw’ from the pool. Individuals can withdraw more than 250 minutes, as long as the 10 users combined do not use more than 2500 minutes. We do not incur any additional charges until all 2,500 minutes have been used. Any minutes not used by the end of the month expire and cannot be carried over to the next month.

Roaming

The ability to automatically make and receive telephone calls, send and receive data, or access other cellular services while travelling outside of Canada. There are additional charges for using this service. These charges can be quite high, if travel plans are not purchased in advance of travel.

Travel Plan

Additional service that can be added to your cellular service package, allowing you to use your cellular device outside of Canada at a significantly reduced cost. These must be arranged in advance of your travel dates.