New capabilities promise to further enhance the value of on-board communications devices.
When ET phoned home more than 25 years ago, he used an old phonograph to fashion a crude but highly effective communications device. Today, the extraterrestrial visitor of motion picture fame would have simply picked up a cell
phone or hand-held computer to communicate with his mother ship, as well as send the exact location and directions for reaching him.
For the makers of ET — people who certainly possessed active imaginations — the communications capabilities that would emerge in just the past decade were not even on the horizon. The rapid pace of technological development has given all of us the ability to communicate in many ways. The application of these technologies has also brought a new level of efficiency and productivity to trucking operations, including drivers, fleets and owner-operators alike.
Cell phones, hand-held computers, on-board terrestrial and satellite-based communications systems are increasingly common today among the nation’s truckers, and their use and popularity is growing still. In a recent informal survey of readers and truckers, in fact, every inquiry about communication devices currently in use was immediately answered with the words “cell phone.”
The truckers also indicated that cell phone technology is now being used for both personal and business reasons, including keeping in contact with family and friends as well as dispatchers and business contacts. “My cell phone is like my right hand,” one driver said. “I don’t know how I have ever been without one. Being on the road, my cell phone is my lifeline.”
With a wide range of companies offering cell phone service, choosing the best plan and capabilities is a matter of identifying needs and preferences. According to our survey respondents, the main criteria for selecting a cell service provider include coverage (nationwide systems without roaming and long distance charges are preferred), as well as reliability and cost. Among the offerings with today’s cell phone systems as well are voice mail, wireless Internet access and text messaging.
Beyond cell phone service, a growing variety of new communications-based technologies are also making their way into trucks, enhancing productivity and efficiency for all types of operations.
Meanwhile, when asked what communications devices they envision using in the next five years, 10 years and beyond, readers were decidedly in agreement. As one driver summed it up, “I can’t even imagine.” Neither can we.
PocketMail
A mobile service that enables user to send and receive e-mail using a hand-held device called a PocketMail Composer, www.pocketmail.com or (877) 362-4543, the PocketMail service can be accessed from virtually any telephone including cell phones, as well as over the Internet. User composer messages on the unique device’s integrated keyboard, dial into the service-in most cases using a toll-free number- hold the unit against the telephone receiver and press the PocketMail button. In moments, all e-mail is sent and received.
PocketMail’s service offerings also include a wireless mess messaging and a number of business applications, mobile financial transactions and information services that can be purchased individually or integrated as package. PocketMail now delivers its mobile services through a range of wireless devices including proprietary systems, Palm hand held computers, GSM and WAP-enabled phones and other HTML or WAP compatible Internet units.
In late June, PocketMail announced a partnership with the Internet Truckstop to provide mobile load-matching services for North American truckers. Using a simple electronic form on PocketMail’s hand-held mobile e-mail device and an Internet Truckstop account, truckers can sear the site’s load database and submit a truck posting and receive matching loads. For example, users can search for a certain type of load within a radius of a specific city by providing basic data, including a starting point, distance from the starting point and truck type.
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