Comments on: Cell Phones and Mobile Internet Access

By: matt davisson

matt davisson — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:07:17 +0000

i actually am on my phone now on the internet and i would love a mobile version of lds.org. i use the scriptures at church. the main page is horrible though. i would like to use it for quick reference.

By: Andrew R.

Andrew R. — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:41:46 +0000

I feel like even if only 50% of the 3.3 billion cell phones available out there are able to get the internet (even though I don’t know if that is too much or too little…maybe you know better than I do) that is still huge. That is a lot of people that can get the internet on this earth.

By: Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:01:39 +0000

The pricing plans is something I have thought about, especially in emerging nations, but I lack the data to talk about it in much specificity. This I do know, that though cell phones are growing rapidly in Africa, the vast majority of it is pre-paid service. I would suspect that prepaid is expensive and people would only use it for necessities; casual Church use would probably be out of the question.

By: RussellHltn

RussellHltn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:16:35 +0000

One thing missing from this discussion is the pricing structure of mobile phones in emerging nations.

Do they have “free night and weekends”? How about “unlimited texting”? Minor things like that will have a huge impact on how the technology is used. We need to follow the “affordable” trends in those countries.

By: Jack Shirts

Jack Shirts — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:32:13 +0000

I have noted with much interest the growth of mobile phone use worldwide over the last couple of years. As the Church considers the course it should take in developing internet content for mobile phones, it would seem that one other factor besides the actual current internet penetration into the world population should be addressed. That is, the rapid rate of increase or momentum of that penetration. Ten percent may be the current user involvement, yet that percentage is growing rapidly. What the Church prepares for today for mobile phone use will likely reach a much higher percentage of the world within just two to five years.

Mobile access to lds.org would certainly be a plus for Church members. But consider the potential missionary influence. Perhaps with increased member involvement, more and more non-member friends would and could access a mobile version of mormon.org the very moment they hear about it. Think what kind of impact that could have for members inviting neighbors to learn about the Church.

Shouldn’t the Church be actively preparing now to take advantage of what is probably the fastest growing worldwide internet access?

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:44:29 +0000

I think a good start would be if the Church actually let us use the super locked down Internet access that pops up on my iPhone everytime I am in the chapel.

That way we could actually use our mobile phones and laptops in our lessons each Sunday.

By: J. Max Wilson

J. Max Wilson — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:00:46 +0000

Even if there is not widespread mobile internet access, text-messaging could be leveraged.

Last year I wrote a website on contract that accepted message from mobile phones that are capable of texting to email addresses (most can these days) and then parsed incoming texts and redistributed the text content to those who had subscribed to the texting group. Unfortunately the funding ran out and the company shut down just last week.

However, there were a number of members of the church using it for quick coordination and announcements to quorum members or youth groups.

Basically the group owner would say to his group, “Pull out your cell phone and send a text message to mygroup@servicename.com and you will be instantly subscribed to my texting group.” Then, whenever he needed to quickly get a message out to the group, like “A new family is moving in at the Doe’s old place. Come help at 8:00pm” He just sent a single text to the group email address, and everyone who had subscribed would get a copy.

I think that this kind of use of texting could really be leveraged, even if the mobile phones don’t have internet.

Perhaps the basic communication tools in the unit websites could allow users to enter their own cell phone number and select a carrier, in addition to a personal email address. Then they could have the option of saying, send me quorum announcements by text.

I know that my quorum would use it in a heartbeat.

By: Naismith

Naismith — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:56:45 +0000

A first step is for the church to have membership software that lists separate phone numbers for each person in the household. Perhaps 25% of the families in our ward are cell-phone only, but there is only a spot for one phone, generally the husband’s.

They get annoyed when we try to reach the wife. But there is no place official to record that other phone number.

It just isn’t working, and it makes the church appear sexist.