Mobritech offers the lowest cost email hosting services, while at the same time delivering the same high reliability and dependability our users have grown accustomed to.
All our mail servers offer 100% redundancy so you will never lose an important business e-mail anymore when you entrust your email services with Mobritech.
If you only need email hosting, using your company's domain name, the plans on this page represent the best value for your business or organization.
Our email-only hosting plans are specifically designed for companies that don't have a website yet, but own a domain name or need a domain name and they need their email addresses identified to that domain name. Example: sales@yourdomain.com. (Advert Free)

A Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail or an email address supplied to you free of charge from your Internet service provider is ok, but it doesn’t look professional when your customers or business associates communicate with you via email. Also these providers usually have adverts on them and other things making it unprofessional for your well establsihed business.
How would you feel if you received an email from your personal banker with an address such as banda-yourbanker@yahoo.com or en email from your new estate agent with an address like agentmwale@hotmail.com? Are these people working for Yahoo or Hotmail?
If the name of your company is for example: Mobritech Limited, then you need to make sure that all your emails are identified with a domain such as info@mobritech.com or an address such as sales@mobritech.com. It looks much better right?

It is estimated that about 80 per cent of all Internet traffic today comes from email service.
There are actually many companies today that conduct more and more business via email than in person, or by using the phone system, FAX or any other communication method. Think about it. We sometimes take this for granted, but reliable e-mail service today is rapidly getting indispensible. What used to be a mere convenience in the early days of the Internet has now become a true business necessity that you simply cannot do without anymore.

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Which one will out shine the other??
In the past few months 3 major mobile phone manufactures have unveiled some outstanding mobile technologies.
Apple have revealed their  iPhone 5, Nokia Communication have the Nokia Lumia 920 and Samsung the Samsung Galaxy S3  .
Users will keep asking on which one they will prefer and the reasons why they should go for it.
Here are a few comparisons of the 3 phones specifications.
THE IPHONE 5,
The handset offers a Display of 4-inch LED backlit IPS TFT, along with a pixel density of 326 PPI and resolution of 1136 x 640, runs  iOS 6,
Measures: 123.8 x 58.5 x 7.6mm with a weight of 112 grams.
Processor: The iPhone 5 has an Apple A6,
RAM: is unknown at this time,
Storage:  16GB, 32GB and 64GB,
Camera: an 8 megapixel 3264 x 2448 pixels auto-focus rear facing camera with touch focus, face detection, geo-tagging, panorama and HDR, a 720p front facing camera,
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Po
Network: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, dual band, Wi-Fi Plus Cellular, 2G network GSM 850/900/1800/1900, CDMA for Verizon 800/1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100, CDMA2000 1xEVDO for Verizon, 4G Network LTE 700 MHz,
9-pin connector, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and EDR, G-Sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light, Digital Compass, and Proximity sensors,
Apple is set to make the phone available as of the 21st of September, 2012
SAMSUNG GALAXY S3:
Display: 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, with a pixel density of 306 PPI and resolution of HD 1280 x 720, runs  Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) but will be updated to  Android Jelly Bean,
Measures: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm with a weight of 133 grams.
Processor:  1.4GHz quad core Cortex AP Exynos 4212 Quad, Mali 400MP GPU,
RAM: 1GB RAM,
Storage:  16GB, 32GB, 64GB, microSD expansion up to 64GB,
Camera: 8 megapixel 3264 x 2448 pixels auto-focus rear camera with simultaneous HD video and image recording, touch focus, geo-tagging, image stabilisation, along with face and smile detection, a 1.9 megapixel 720p@30fps front facing camera,
Battery: 2100mAh Li-Ion,
Network: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, DNLA, WiFi Hotspot, and WiFi Direct, 2G Network GSM 800/900/1800/1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100, 4G Network LTE regional, microUSB 2.0 (MHL) and USB On-the-go, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and EDR, NFC, Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Gyroscope, Ambient light, and Proximity sensors,
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is available on the market right now.
NOKIA LUMIA 920:
Display:  The smartphone offers a 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ with Corning Gorilla Glass with a pixel density of 332 PPI and resolution of HD 1280 x 768, runs Windows Phone 8, and measures 130.3 x 70.8 x 10.7mm with a weight of 185 grams.
Processor:  a 1.5GHz dual core Krait processor Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon, Adreno 225 GPU,
RAM: 1GB,
Storage:  32GB, microUSB 2.0
Camera:  8 megapixel 3264 x 2448 pixels auto-focus rear facing camera with Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash, PureView tech, geo-tagging, and optical image stabilisation, a 1.3 megapixel 720p@30fps front facing camera,
Battery: 2000mAh Li-Ion, this phone is beleived to have wireless charging (yet to confirm)
Network: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, DNLA, WiFi hotspot and WiFi Direct, 2G Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100, 4G Network LTE 800/1800/2600/900/2100, (MHL), Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and EDR, NFC, Digital Compass, Ambient light, G-Sensor, Gyroscope, Barometer and Proximity sensors,
The Nokia Lumia 920 is expected to release sometime in the fourth quarter of 2012.

I personally would go for the Samsung S3 looking at the spectacular specs it has, even though i have always been a Windows mobile fan. The olny downfall with the Iphone 5 is the use of the nano-sim card, this will make it difficult to switch simcards with other mobiles which atleast use the microsim..

Whats your opinion?

A few weeks ago a friend of mine, on Facebook, asked me what it takes for one to become an engineer.

As I discussed in the Blog post entitled “Nurturing Your Passion”, it does not only require one to have an interest in any career, but one should have passion for it.

The following is an amplification of the reply I gave to him:-

"Thank you for your enquiry on the electrical engineering career by your friend.

Before I give you details of what it takes to become an engineer, there are some pre-requisites to be met.

1)  One must have a heart to be an engineer (it must be in the blood).

2) He must be very good at science related subjects, namely Mathematics,  Physics and Chemistry.

3) He must be prepared to spend long hours of studying a lot of theory. This is the most difficult part, as it involves studying complicated equations and theories which, at first hand, do not look related to the real world.

A lot of students drop out at second and third years of study of the course because of this. The average drop-out rate from the School of Engineering between the second and fourth years, at the time of my study, was around 60%. However, thereafter the pass rate was nearly 100% of those of us who managed to reach the fourth year of study.

As students of Engineering at the University of Zambia (UNZA), in the early 1970s, we used to be referred to as "Monks" by our colleagues, due to the fact that we spent a lot of our time studying. We had little or no time for social life. I believe the term "monk" is still being used at UNZA to refer to engineering students and other book worms!

This is not to discourage your friend from pursuing an engineering career, but to motivate him to take the decision.

The practical side of the engineering career is realised when one is exposed to an organization that utilities engineering skills.  This is achieved through attachment of engineering students to various industries during vacations between academic semesters.

What I have noticed, from my experience, is that from around 1990, most industries have not been taking the training of engineering students during their vacations as a priority.

This has resulted in the production of a number of low quality graduates who find it difficult to excel as engineers in industry after graduation.

A number of such graduates have ended up taking managerial positions in some companies, where a solid practical experience is not a requirement.

In some countries, for one to qualify as an engineer, one has to do what is called a "sandwich course". This is where one spends a year in class at campus followed by another year in industry. This goes on until one has done three to four years in class and industry on an alternating basis.

I had a colleague in a similar class at the University who, after graduation, joined a small factory with very few electrical equipment. The biggest machine at the factory was only 50KW at 380 Volts.

He worked there for close to ten years. During that time, he rose from the position of a Plant Electrical Engineer up to that of a Production Manager. This was a very senior management position, with very attractive conditions of work such as a personal-to-holder car, a fully furnished company house with a 24-hour security guard.

When I met him at a social function in the town where he was, I was working as an acting Assistant Engineering Superintendent in the Mines. His salary then, was about twice of what I was getting from my job. I really felt inadequate when he told me that I made a "mistake" to join the Mines.

Five years later, I learnt that he has left his job and joined another company due to frustration.

I happened to meet him at an annual meeting of the Engineering Institution of Zambia. At this meeting, engineers from industry present technical papers related to their jobs.

My friend was at a loss on what was being discussed. This time it was his turn to feel the inadequacy of knowledge! He was not exposed to the application of theory to practical situations.

There is a danger for one to become a "half baked" engineer who may not be employed globally if he is not exposed to practical experience.

Companies that need practical engineers are the Mines and others such as Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO) Ltd and Lafarge Cement Zambia Plc., and many more.
One should therefore join big companies that offer very good practical training after graduation.  Once the experience has been acquired one can then move on to join other companies or form their own.

The benefits of high salaries and better working conditions offered by small companies are short lived and are not beneficial to an individual in the long term.

Engineering involves learning a lot of theory during the study period followed by practical experience in industry afterwards."

With Zambia aiming to be a middle income country by 2030 , the demand for all the various types of engineers will be high.

One of the major development programmes is the Rural Electrification Programme. In order to realise the successful implementation of this programme the Rural Electrification Authority ( REA ) was formed.

Engineering covers a very wide spectrum of specialisation with so many branches.

For example , Aeronautics is a specialed branch of mechanical engineering.

Apart from engineering, in the three major disciplines mentioned above, there are other forms of engineering such as Information Communication Technology, which encompasses several branches of engineering, such as electronics, telecommunications and computer science .

Zambia has adopted Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool for national development.

Specialists in ICT are a breed of highly trained individuals who are in great demand all over the world.

In order for one to remain in demand by industry, there is a need to continuously keep himself updated with the latest development in technology in his own field of expertise.

Furthermore, one should also diversify into studying other fields of knowledge that will enhance his demand. For example, I have studied Web Designing, Computer software applications, Network Marketing, etc. on my own without sitting in a formal class.

The advent of the Internet has made it very easy and cheap for one to study and learn more on his own.

Mobritech (Z) Ltd. was formed with a view to utilize both ICT and the other "traditional" engineering skills to enhance development in Zambia.

Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO Ltd.) recently got an approval from the   Energy Regulation Board (ERB) to increase electricity tariffs by an average of 25% which came into effect from 1 August 2010.

The reason given for the proposed increment is that there is a need for the company to raise capital for construction of new hydropower stations. This is to alleviate a serious power deficiency in the country.

Hydro Electric power stations have been the traditional source of electrical energy, which accounts for nearly 90% of the nation’s entire source of electricity.

The country is already experiencing a critical shortage of electrical energy, which has resulted in increased load shedding across the country in recent years. This is due to an increase in demand of electrical power, brought about by the incoming of new industries, mainly mines, in recent years.

The country has experienced several major blackouts in the last few years as a result of inadequate generating capacity.

Aging equipment of the nation's Hydropower stations is another factor that has contributed to the crisis.

A number of the equipment has been in operation for over forty years. ZESCO Ltd. is in the process of rehabilitating the equipment and this requires more money.

In order to supplement the ZESCO Ltd effort of improving the reliability of the electrical supply, and to cushion the effect of increased electricity tariff charges, it has become necessary to look at alternative sources of energy.

One of these is solar energy.

In Zambia there is an abundant supply of sunshine for most of the time during the year. The use of solar power is therefore an attractive alternative.

Solar energy can be utilized in two forms



1) Converting the solar energy into electrical energy by use of solar panels and storing it in batteries in form of DC power. The DC is then converted to AC mains by use of Inverters.

The initial capital cost for installation of solar panels to produce electricity is higher than that of hydroelectric systems.

With advancement of technology, the installation cost is steadily decreasing.

2) Direct use of the heat from the sun for water heating and cooking.

The former method is becoming common in the country, whereas the latter is not.

The method of using solar power to create heat can be used to supplement the solar panel system.

A number of companies which deal in selling and installing Solar Energy equipment do exist in Zambia. Most of the Solar Energy systems in Zambia are the solar panel type.

The direct use of the heat from the sun for water heating and cooking is a very feasible and cheap alternative to the Zesco mains power. This method is technologically less demanding than the solar panel method.

Local companies in Zambia should be encouraged to invest into this business, as is the case in the USA and other western countries.

References : -



1) Making and using a solar cooker by Joe Radabaugh Issue #30

http://is.gd/cl9ar

2) Solar Cookers International (How Solar Cookers Work)

http://is.gd/cl9ij

3) Solar Oven, Cooker and Dryer Tips and Solar Recipes

http://is.gd/cl9uH

4) Zambia - Solar Cooking Project

http://is.gd/cl9BH

5) Energy Savers: Solar Water Heaters

http://is.gd/clbZ2

6) SolarRoofs.com solar water heating, The Most Cost Effective Way to Go Solar!

http://is.gd/clcYf

7) Solar Water Heating Systems: Solar Hot Water, Solar Water Heaters

http://is.gd/cldhR

8) How to Build a Solar Hot Water System

http://is.gd/cldsm

9) Mr. Solar - Home & RV Solar Panel Systems

http://is.gd/cldFP

10) Mr. Solar Energy

http://is.gd/cldSF

11) Solar Energy Retail Businesses in the World

http://is.gd/clhhT

I was listening to a local Radio Station's discussion programme recently. The topic of discussion was "Should parents dictate to their children what type of careers they should pursue?"

Listeners were asked to send their opinions by SMS. I sent the following SMS "Parents should not dictate to their children what careers they should follow. This is because we are all born with passions which we should nurture."

Some parents found themselves doing what they are doing now, because of circumstances beyond their control. For example, their own parents may have not have been able to get them to the training institutions of their choice because of financial constraints, peer pressure or  distance . The other reason maybe it has been a tradition in the family to follow particular careers.

I come from a family where a lot of my relatives had been either teachers , police  or army personnel. This had been a general trend until about some thirty years ago. My grandfather was a school teacher. My father was a school teacher and so were two of his siblings.

I am a first born child of my family. When I was growing up, my parents assumed that I would be a teacher, just as my grandfather and father had been.

This was not to be the case!

My parents used to buy me mechanical toys such as wind-up aero-planes and cars. Within a short time of being given any new toy, I would open and dismantle it to pieces to study how it worked. I would then re-assemble and make it work again. This gave me a sense of pride and satisfaction. In some cases, I failed to re-assemble the toy. This earned me a few spanks from my mother who was always incensed by my "destructive" behaviour. My father, on the other hand, was fascinated by my curiosity.

I was not deterred by mother's punishment. By the time I was fifteen, I was a full-fledged mechanic able to replace broken main springs in table clocks and tuning cords of transistor radios ,etc.

I later became famous in the locality and was the nicknamed the "Engineer".

I had a several "customers" who would bring in their broken down radios, clocks, watches and bicycles which I gladly repaired free of charge! A few of them bought me sweets and biscuits in appreciation.

My father realised that I was born with a passion of repairing things. He encouraged me to take up a career of an engineer and forget about being a teacher.



   When you do something which is your passion it does not look like work to you but a pleasure. A lot of high flyers in society have identified their passions and made full use of them. My advice to all is : Identify your passion and nurture it into a profession you will enjoy.

In this blog post I would like to discuss about safety in an engineering working environment with emphasis on electrical installations.

Safety has many meanings and definitions which will not be discussed here. For the purpose of this Blog post, Safety will be described as: -

The state of mind, where people are constantly made aware of the existence of hazards in their working environment in order to take the necessary steps to avoid them.

Electricity, unlike any other sources of energy, has many hazards if not handled carefully.

The presence of electricity in any area is not easily detectable due its nature.

Human beings use five senses for communicating with their environment. There is also the “sixth sense” called intuition, which is not so obvious to many.

Let us consider the five human senses and how they related to the detection of electricity.

1) Sight - The presence of electricity cannot be detected by use of the human eye.

2) Smell - The presence of electricity cannot be detected by use of the human nose.

3) Hearing - The presence of electricity cannot be detected by use of the human ear.

4) Taste - The presence of electricity can be detected by use of the human tongue.

5) Touch - The presence of electricity can be detected by use of the human body.

It is clear that electricity cannot be detected by most of the human body’s sensory system. The only human senses that detect its presence is that of touch and taste.

These are not the best way to detect electricity because it can result in shock which results in serious injury or even death. Electricity cannot, therefore, be directly detected by the human body without serious consequences.

How then, electricity be detected by the human body?

When electricity passes through various materials, it produces effects that can be detected by the human senses of sight, hearing and smell.

These effects include heat, light, smell, movement and noise.

It is therefore very important for anyone handling electrical equipment as a technical or operating individual to take extra care.

For one to be able to handle electrical equipment as an engineer, technician or a tradesman one has to undergo rigorous training in theory and practice, which takes several years varying from two to five years or more.

For all who use electrical equipment they have to follow special instructions, usually in the form of manufacturer’s user manuals, in order to use it safely.

Many accidents involving electrical equipment occur both in industrial and domestic environments as a result of many factors.

More accidents occur in industrial than in domestic areas.

Statistics indicate that the majority of accidents are caused by human error or misjudgment.

In my 33 years of having worked for under an industrial environment, I have noticed that most of the accidents were as result of personnel not following laid down procedures and instructions.

The following accident which I witnessed at one of the Mines I was working for illustrates how a series of human negligence contributes to the cause of an accident.

Note the words in bold and italics as you read on and think of what was going wrong before the accident occurred.

When I was a Graduate on Training, I was working with a group of an assistant Foreman and two electricians.

We were assigned to go and repair a 3,300 volt cable that was damaged by an Open Pit machine called a Shovel. This is a huge machine that is used to load copper ore into 100 ton dump trucks.

The machine is powered by alternating current electricity at 3,300 volts. The machine moves on steel trucks similar to that of a Bull Dozer. The power to the machine is supplied via flexible power cables that have to be shifted and extended as the huge machine moves from one place to another. This movement is usually done at intervals of about seven days.

For a shovel to move from one place to another, it requires the participation of both electrical and production personnel.

As the machine moves at a very slow speed of about one kilometer per day , the power cable has to be moved by production personnel who determine the route of the movement.

On this particular movement an error resulted in the Shovel to step over its supply power cable. This caused the power to be cut off automatically by the electrical protection system at the Substation.

Our duty was to replace the damaged power cable with a good one.

To do so, we had to make an electrical joint at one point via what is called a junction box. The box is a small “house like” structure in which two cables are joined by bolting them together on three insulators in the “little house”.

In order to do so, we had to ensure that electrical power to the supply cable was switched off and locked off at the point of supply. The regulations required us to get a Permit to Work document from an electrician whose duty was to isolate and switch off electrical equipment for both engineering and production personnel.

The Shovel’s 3,300 volt cable was supplied from a double switch which supplied the Shovel and an Overhead line. This switch was supplied from one switch in the Substation.

There was a Contractor who had some scheduled work on the Overhead line. He got the Permit to Work from the Isolations Electrician who switched off and locked out the Circuit Breaker at the Substation.

The Contractor’s work was to take some eight hours to complete.

When we went for the job our supervisor (the Assistant Foreman) estimated that our work would take some three hours.

When we learnt that the Contractor’s job had started, we went straight to the site of our own work without getting a Work Permit from the Isolations Electrician.

Our supervisor thought that it was not necessary for us to get a Permit to Work since our job would be finished well before that of the Contractor.

We were at our work site for some two hours and drove back to the Workshop at 9:00 hrs. to have our Tea Break.

When we were driving back to the work site we never bothered to check whether the cable to the Shovel was still switched off.

When we reached the work site, one of the electricians in our team noticed that the Contractor’s crew were no longer seen working on the Overhead line. Some four hours had elapsed so it was unusual for them to complete the job during that time.

The work site of the Contractor was some two kilometres away from where we were working.

After having noticed this anomaly, the observant electrician in our crew suggested that we investigate what has transpired.

The Assistant Foreman, who has worked for many years, in the Open Pits overruled him, saying it was not necessary to do so. He was very convinced that the Contractor was still around. He reasoned that the men may have gone for their Tea Break as well!

To prove us wrong, the Assistant Foreman took a six inch screw driver which he placed on one of the exposed cable and shorted it to earth to prove that it was not Live.

Soon there was a big bang and flash when the screw driver touched the 3,300 volt live cable. The flash was so huge that it burnt the Assistant Foreman’s arm and fizzled out part of the big moustache he was fond of keeping!

The man cried out loudly and stared running away in circles and he almost jumped over a twenty- metre bench that could have resulted in his sure death.

A Mayday distress signal was transmitted over the Radio and the man was taken to Hospital.

This incident illustrates how a series of careless actions can lead to a very serious accident.

Please discuss any incidents that you may have experienced at your work place or home under “Comments” below or under “Forums” of the main Website :-

In July 2008, I travelled to the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam on business.

Whilst there, I went to a shop selling Cell phones. I was looking for a Nokia 1650 model. The shopkeeper surprised me by asking, if I wanted an original model or a Gong’a (imitation)? I told him that I wanted an original model.

Out of curiosity, I requested him to show me both models and how much each was costing?

To the untrained eye, it was not easy to differentiate between the two phones.

The imitation model was going for 30,000 Tanzanian shillings, whilst the original was costing thrice that amount.

   According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "Shanzhai" refers to Chinese imitation and pirated brands and goods, particularly electronic. Literally "mountain village" or "mountain stronghold", the term refers to the mountain stockades of warlords or bandits, far away from official control. "Shanzhai” can also be stretched to refer to people who are lookalikes, low-quality or improved goods , as well as things done in parody.

The market for Shanzhai Cell Phones is not only in China, but also in the surrounding developing countries in Asia, and Third World countries in Africa and Latin America.

The outstanding sales performance of Shanzhai Cell Phones is usually attributed to low price, multifunctional performance and imitations of trendy brands.

Shanzalism has a long tradition for products needed to be designed to suit peasants, which form most of China's population.

Whilst the sale of Shanzhai products is acceptable in many under developed countries, it is not right to allow these products to be sold alongside the original products.

Greedy traders could end up selling unsuspecting buyers products which are imitations (Gong'as or Shanzhai) at the same price as that of original models.

The problem of the society we live is of some people have the greedy of attaining wealth using shortcuts.

We have heard of individuals who have lost their lives being shot by security forces whilst running away with booty. Some have swallowed illegal narcotic drugs in foreign countries with the view of avoiding detection. Some of them have died from the poison of the drugs after unintentionally digesting them during transit. A number have been caught by alert security agents on arrival in their own countries.

Imitation Products - Is that Nokia Cell Phone Really Genuine?

A friend of mine recently approached me with a brand new “Nokia N96” Cell Phone and requested me to configure it so that it could be used to browse the internet and install the Holy Bible, which comes in a form of a Java programme.

I suggested to him that in order for him to get the full benefits of the phone I could connect it to my Laptop so that we install more programmes on the Cell Phone. Most of these were Java programmes like Operamini browser, Nimbuzz, Snaptu, etc.

I have a Nokia 6300 which I have been using for over three years and I have installed Nokia PC suite programme on my Laptop. The PC suite allows one to install programmes, browse the internet, manage files on the Cell Phone, do back ups of contacts and several more functions.

The Nokia PC suite can be used for a variable range of Nokia phone models.

When we connected the “Nokia N96” to the Laptop via the USB Connectivity Cable, I noticed that the phone could not be detected as “New Hardware Found” by the Laptop.

After several attempts to connect it to the Laptop, I realised that the phone was not really a Nokia model but an Nckia! The “C” on the phone was written in a very clever manner that one would read it as an “O” at first sight.

On checking from the User Manual for a real Nokia N96 phone, I found that the N96 was a “Slide Phone”, whereas as the Nckia N96 was a “Touch Screen” type.

It took my friend a bit of time to be convinced and realise that he was not having a Nokia N96 Cell Phone but a cheap imitation of the real one! The price of the Nckia N96 is around $120, whereas the Nokia N96 costs around $700.

Next time a trader shows you that fancy looking "Nokia" Cell Phone, you could check if it is the real model by using the following codes :-

*#92702689#

This shows the phone details like serial number, year of manufacture, etc. The owner will be required to put the month (MM) and year (YYYY) of purchase. This can only be done once and can not be changed later.

This code only works for Nokia phones. It can be used to test if a phone is really Nokia or not.

On some Nokia models, one has to switch off the phone to come out of this Menu. On other models, there is an "Exit" facility.

*#0000#

This gives the Cell Phone Model Number and (firmware) software version. Only works for Nokia models

*#06#

This gives the Cell phone's Serial number only. This code works for all Cell Phones, not necessarily Nokia models

Fake Products - Examples

Alongside imitation and cheap products, there is the sale of fake products to unsuspecting customers.

Fake products differ from imitations, in that the products offered for sale are not really what they are claimed to be.

Fake products cause harm to the health of human beings and damage machinery.

We have heard of stories of transformer oil being sold as cooking oil and culprits have been arrested and prosecuted.

Some unscrupulous street vendors sell diesel mixed with other oils as "diesel". This fake fuel causes damage to engines of motor vehicles.

Some people sale goat meat along our highways and claim it to be "game meat".

There are also cases where natural honey being sold along the highways is mixed with refined sugar as "natural" honey. This type of "honey" is not good for diabetic patients who are not supposed to take refined cane sugar.

The number of fake products on the market are too numerous to list here, they include fake chemicals, drugs and food stuffs. Customers should be on the look out for these products.

As a rule of the thumb, do not buy products from unauthorised or unlicensed traders.

If you ever come across a Chemist or a Drugstore where you are able to buy all the drugs there, without a prescription from a medical doctor, start to ask yourself if such a place has taken measures to protect your health? Under the pharmaceutical laws of the country, certain drugs like Fragyl and Valium can only be sold over the counter with a prescription from a qualified medical practitioner.

Service is defined in the dictionary as "work, or doing work for another or for a community, etc".

   According to Wordweb online Dictionary and Thesaurus (http://www.wordwebonline.com/), one meaning of a Service is "a Company or Agency that performs a public service; subject to government regulation".

A number of companies and organisations are engaged in providing services and amenities such as education, water, electricity, communication facilities, sewerage removal and medical care to the public.

These companies and organisations are commonly referred to as service providers.

The quality of the service provided by a number of the service providers has been a source of concern.

One area where public has been given a raw deal is in the availability of a reliable electrical power supply. In recent years, there have been power cuts on a regular basis.

Supply of water by water utility companies in some areas has seen disruptions on a regular basis. The quality of the water supplied also leaves much to be desired.

It is common in some areas, to open a "domestic water" tap and see muddy water coming out of it for some time before clear water is seen.

The muddy water is metered and paid for. The users have no choice but to let it flow to the drain or keep it in containers to let it settle before use.

The availability of internet is erratic in some parts of the country. Even those customers subscribing to broadband internet, do not always get the specified speeds that they pay for.

The availability of medicine in a number of medical institutions is erratic. It is only those who can afford to pay private institutions that get a better service.

In the education sector, it is now "fashionable" for parents to pay for private tuition of school going children in order for them to get good marks in their examinations.

What has happened to the standard of teaching in some schools? The answer is anybody's guess.

   Let us consider an example, where a parent pays, say $250 per term, for a child who attends a boarding school. During school holidays, the parent pays $20 per subject for the child to get "extra tuition". The tuition would be from a member of staff from a similar school where the child attends! For four subjects, $80 tuition fee has to be paid. The total cost of education per child comes to $990 per year, instead of $750. This is 32% more than what should be paid.

There is nothing wrong with extra tuition for school children who are slow learners. What is worrying is where this tuition has become the norm rather than the exception. What happens to the children whose parents cannot afford extra tuition if their schools can't provide quality tuition ?

   Let us consider another example of a water utility company who supplies low quality domestic water. If a family pays $40 per month for it and, say $5 worth of that water is not suitable for use. This comes to $60 worth of water per year thrown into the drain.

These two examples given above, results in a total figure of $300 extra expenditure per annum. This money, which is paid unnecessarily, reduces the quality of life of the family. It is also good breeding ground for corruption as people are forced to find other means to make ends meet.

If the total amount of money lost by the public, in terms of loss of business, or having to pay extra is calculated, it will be in millions of dollars for the whole country.

The question is what has gone wrong for us to reach this state of affairs?

A number of service providers are dogged by various problems ranging from poor management styles, lack of capital input and lack of competition.

Authorities are urged to put measures, to ensure that the public does not subsidize non-performing companies and organisations, at the expense of national development.

Industrial Areas, Factories and Public places such as Shopping Malls and High Rise Residential Flats are required, by law, to have fire fighting equipment installed in their premises.

The local councils for major cities such as Lusaka, Ndola and Kitwe in Zambia are responsible for ensuring the Factories and Buildings Act is adhered to.

To complement the fire fighting equipment which are installed in the industries and public places, each council has a Fire Brigade which is manned on a 24/7 basis.

When a fire breaks out the Fire Brigade of the local council is called.

There have been cases where property worth millions of dollars has been lost in the past.

There is concern that the local council Fire Brigades are usually not having adequate fire fighting equipment and the response time is usually not fast enough.

On the Copperbelt, the mining companies have their own Fire Brigades.

On several occasions the Fire Brigades of the Mines have worked hand in hand with the Councils to fight major fires.

There are a number of local and foreign based private companies that supply fire fighting equipment for domestic and industrial use.

Under the Factories and Buildings Act, of the Laws of the Republic of Zambia every factory or industry must have fire fighting equipment installed at their premises. This includes public offices and shopping malls, etc.Despite this Law in being in place, compliance to the law is generally not adequate.

When I was working for a fire fighting equipment supply and Installation Company, I noticed that despite having fire extinguishers in place in premises to comply with the law, the majority of people have little or no knowledge of how to operate the equipment! There is a need to provide education to the population to know how to operate the equipment.

Where fire extinguishers are installed a lot were found either not to be functional or they have not been maintained according to manufactures' recommendation!

I had a humourous experience at one company I visited, about four months back.

This company deals in hiring heavy dump trucks to the mining companies.They have a workshop repairing these trucks. I made an appointment to meet the workshop manager with a view of assessing the adequacy of fire fighting equipment for the workshop.

On meeting him he told me that they had enough equipment and therefore they were not in need of any more equipment that I wanted our company could supply. He showed me a Fire Compliance Certificate from the local council.On inspecting the equipment I found that they were not adequate and the existing equipment were not adequately maintained.

On telling him about my findings he said that as long as they had the Fire Compliance Certificate from the council, which was issued once per year, there was no need to implement my recommendations! The man was apparently irritated by my offer for service.

If a fire broke out at that place I expect 90% loss of equipment.

The other problem I found is that a lot of people do not want to invest into fire fighting equipment. One man told me that they had operated for over twenty years and had had not a single fire! In my opinion, the enforcement of the Factories and Buildings Act is not strong enough.

On the highways, it is usually a big disaster if a truck or car catches fire.

The law is not there for private vehicles to have fire fighting equipment on board. When I went to pick our family car from the sea port of a neighbouring country of Tanzania in 2008, I noticed that there it was a law requirement for each vehicle was to have a working fire extinguisher.

What then should be done to ensure that the country has adequate fire fighting systems?

I believe the following could make a difference: -

   Training of individuals in the use of fire fighting equipment should be extended to as many people as possible.

   Each vehicle should be carrying a portable fire fighting device as a law requirement.

   Companies that deal in fire fighting equipment should be regularised so that those without adequate technical know-how are not allowed to operate. There are reported cases where low quality equipment have been supplied to unsuspecting customers.

   Introduction of new type of fire fighting equipment, such as the Fire ball, which does not require any skill on how to use it in case of fires.

   Councils should invest more in fire fighting equipment that can handle fires breaking out at great heights, such as for high storey buildings like Society House and Findeco House.

   Individuals should be encouraged to possess fire fight equipment in their homes which they are familiar to work with.

Please leave comments below or join our Forums to share your experiences.

In a recent article, I discussed what it takes to choose Engineering as a career. I said:-

   “What I have noticed, from my experience, is that from around 1990, most industries have not been taking the training of engineering students during their vacations as a priority. This has resulted in the production of a number of low quality graduates who find it difficult to excel as engineers in industry after graduation. A number of such graduates have ended up taking managerial positions in some companies, where a solid practical experience is not a requirement.”

For one to be a full fledged engineer or technician, one must undergo some practical training in the field of their study. When I was an undergraduate engineering student, at the University of Zambia, between 1972 and 1977 we had a system of attaching us to companies that would give us some practical engineering experience. Due to the security situation in the country at the time, it was a requirement for us to go for National Service where we underwent some military training. This happened at the end of our fist year at the University of Zambia.

At first, we thought that the military training, apart from being a security requirement, was not necessary as part of our academic training. However, many years later I found that the military training I got was an asset to me in my managerial responsibility in the following ways :-

   I was able to withstand long hours of work when there was a need to do so.
   I learnt how to survive under difficulty conditions.
   It taught me the importance of time keeping
   Never giving up on any challenges that I face in life.
   Many other attributes such as being frank and bold.

At the end of the second, third and fourth years I was attached to Nitrogen Chemical of Zambia Ltd, General Electric Company Limited and Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation respectively. The attachment periods, in all cases, were of three months duration. After graduation from the University of Zambia in 1977, I joined the copper mining industry due to an influence from a friend who advised me that the training offered by the industry was far much better than any other industry. On joining the then Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines Limited, I was given an eighteen-month training programme. I was told that I had to do the eighteen months because the training that I got from the other companies whilst I was at the University was not conducive to the mining industry.

I was at the beginning not pleased by this revelation, because my friends who had done industrial training with the Mines between their academic years at the University were given six month training!

After undergoing the eighteen-month training, which included “hands-on” on training and some theory which was not taught in the University I was ready to take up managerial responsibilities in the industry.

The training was as follows: -

   A three-month practical training at the Mechanic Training Centre. The training was given to me in form learning practical work which involved fitting, boiler making and electrical wiring. I was given an overall and a toolbox!

   The training which was for non-graduate trainees was meant to give one practical experience of the equipment that one was to come across in the industry later.

   At this stage more than half of my colleagues resigned from the Mines. They saw the training as part of frustration methods of the predominantly white expatriates whose jobs we were to take over.

   After the three-month attachment Mechanic Training Centre I was the attached to work for three to six month periods with plant Sectional Engineers at various parts of the Nchanga Mine in Chingola. This training involved being given projects that required the use of both theory and practical application of what I had learnt at the University and at the Mechanical Training Centre. An example was my making a test bay for control panels of Open Pit Shovels. This project worked out so successfully that my boss recommended me to lead a group of artisans for one section of the Mine.

   I went for a theoretical and practical course in high voltage Electrical Switching.

Later on during my working as an engineer in the Mines, I went for other training modules which included supervisory training and maintenance management.

In 1986 I went for a six-month coarse in Distribution Engineering with British Electricity International (BEI) in the United Kingdom. The course included practical training in:-

   Substation Operation and Maintenance
   High Voltage and Low Voltage Underground Jointing Techniques
   Welding and Fabrication
   Filed experience with the then South Eastern Electricity Board at their district offices at Maidstone and Turnbridge Wells.
   Attachment a Reyrolle switchgear manufacturing factory for the Northern Engineering Industries (NEI) at Hebburn.

In 1990 I attended a three week Maintenance Management Course at Zimbabwe Steel Corporation (ZISCO) at Redcliff in Zimbabwe. This training and several other minor ones, in form of seminars and workshops, proved to very invaluable to my development as a professional engineer.

Training is an on going process for any individual if they are to keep up to date with the development of new techniques relevant to their profession.

One of the core business activities of Mobritech Zambia Limited is to provide training for engineering personnel in form of organizing training programmes with our local and overseas partners as well technical write ups on the Mobritech Blog and the Forum.

Individual one-to-one training can also be arranged for those close to our area of operations.

One of the products to be introduced soon will be online interactive training for individuals.

Readers are invited to join the Forum as registered members where they can raise issues for discussion under the various topics such as Engineering, Tricks and Tips, etc.

Our readers may also contribute to the Blog.  All topics should be sent by e-mail to info@mobritech.com for the attention of , the Website administrator, for editing and posting. The Blog and the Forum is a very good environment where technical issues and challenges affecting people involved in ICT and Engineering activities could be discussed and resolved.

When you purchase a new Computer it will be operating as per specification. As time goes by, it will start to be slower than before.

A computer just like any machine requires to be maintained on a regular basis. This is usually done by qualified IT personnel.

There are two types of maintenance done on Computers : -



1) Hardware Maintenance

This can only be done by specialised IT personnel and should never be done by unqualified personnel.

2) Software Maintenance

This is usually done by specialised IT personnel, however, some basic maintenance can be done by someone who does not necessarily have IT knowledge.

The Windows Operating  System (Windows OS) has inbuilt maintenance tools which can be used by untrained personnel.

The following are the basic maintenance procedures which one can carry out without any knowledge of IT.

DISK CLEAN UP

As the Computer is being used it generates some files which have no real use.

These files accumulate over time and occupy disk space which can be freed.

The following is the procure to perform "Disk Clean Up"

1) Go to Start >Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Cleanup

In order to make a shortcut to this tool, use the right hand mouse to click on the Disk Cleanup and choose "Send to Desk Top".

Once the disk clean up tool is chosen, select from the Menu the items one wants to remove.

Usually "Temp Files", "Recycle Bin" and "Compress Old Files" are chosen. The description of use for each type of file to select, is given so that one can decide to remove them or not.

2) Once "Disk Clean Up" is chosen, the Computer will show a list of Files which could be removed.

3) Once the Files to be removed have been selected, you will be informed of  how much disk storage space (in MB) will be recovered.

4) Click "Ok" and the Files will automatically be removed.

This procedure should be done at least once per week.

DISK DEFRAGMENTATION

As the Computer is being used, it allocates created files to specific storage areas on the hard disk.

As the files are stored and deleted, they become scattered (fragmented) all over the storage area. One file can be stored in as many as 100 different places!

When recalling any file for use, the Computer has to look all over the storage area before it is displayed to the user.

The Computer has to look at all the parts of the storage area. This process, slows down the Computer when saving or opening files.

Windows has an inbuilt tool which defragments the files which have been scattered all over disk storage area.

The following is the procure to perform Disk Defragmentation.

1) Go to Start >Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmentation

In order to make a shortcut to this tool, use the right hand mouse to click on the Disk Defragmentation and choose "Send to Desk Top"

Once the disk defragmentation tool is chosen, the Computer will advise if defragmentation is required to be done or not.

An analysis of the state of the fragmentation will be done.

If advised to do the defragmentation, press the "Defragment Disk" option from the Menu. If not, cancel the operation.

If defragmentation of the Disk has not been done for a long time, the process can take many hours to be completed.

It is usually recommended to leave the Computer to carry out this operation overnight.

2) Once Disk Defragmentation is done, the Computer will indicate that the operation is over. Click Ok and click the Close or X to close the tool.

This procedure should be done at least once per month. If the Computer is used to store and delete files regularly, doing it once per week maybe advisable. Some people do it on a daily basis !

The Zambian Government recently announced that it is going to use ICT as one of the tools for accelerating development in the country.  ICT stands for Information Communication Technology. This incorporates the use of the Internet, Computers, Telephones and other related equipment. In the communication sector the country has made some tremendous strides by the presence of three Cell phone providers with millions of subscribers.

Internet usage on the other hand has been restricted to a few thousand users, most of whom are corporate users who connect via equipment connected to one of the several ISP companies that provide Internet by cable or wireless. For the general public the usage of internet has been restricted to Internet Cafes that are found in most urban and some peri-urban areas. A few individuals who own multimedia cell phones have access to the internet via the GPRS and, nowadays, EDGE protocols provided by the two of the three Cell phone providers.

To the average citizen the use of internet is limited to sending and receiving e-mail and reading online newspapers and magazines.

Some students in higher institutions of learning use the Internet for study material research.

The main reason why the Internet has not been widely used is because of the prohibitive cost of using it. An average cost of browsing in an Internet Cafe is around $2 per hour. This cost is fixed irrespective of the speed of connection! For the GPRS and EDGE connections the cost is around $0.25 per Megabyte and is not depended on the time it takes to be connected to the Internet. The two Cell phone providers do sell some modems which can be connected to Personal Computers. Some smart phones can also connect direct to the Internet or can be used as modems for Personal Computers. This is a cheaper form of Internet currently available to the general public.

With the installation of the fibre optic cable by ZESCO and Zamtel around the country, the cost of using Internet is expected to drop sharply in due course.

This will see a greater use of the Internet by the general public to the extent it is used in other countries in America, Europe, and Asia and in South Africa. In these countries, Internet is provided to homes via high speed broadband connections at very cheap rates. High speed free Internet is also provided to customers in some restaurants and airports via Wi-Fi connections. There are some places in Zambia where Wi-Fi is available to customers.

The use of Internet is unlimited. It can be used for Internet Marketing, Social Networking and Communication. Nowards most Businesses are run online with minimum use of paper. Online libraries are now becoming popular worldwide. The sky is the limit!

The use of ICT in the country is expected to increase sharply during the coming months. It is up to the citizens to make good use of it for business, study and entertainment.

To every good thing there is always the bad side of it. The use of ICT has seen the proliferation of high technology crime. (Cyber-crime).

Government should take measures to train our law enforcement agents in detecting and arresting this new type of crime.

This is our ICT challenge!

The Zambian Government recently announced that it will adopt Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a major tool for national development.

   The Government's ICT sector policy is "A Zambia transformed into an information and knowledge-based society and economy supported by consistent development and pervasive access to ICTs to all by all citizens by 2030".

The ICT policy was launched on Wednesday, March 28th 2007 at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka under the theme "ICT for accelerated wealth and job creation". (Zambia ICT Policy - http://www.widnet.org.zm/news.php?id=23 )

Since the launch of the policy, there has been a marked improvement in the growth in ICT investment in the country, which has recorded over 32 percent penetration rate growth in last few years , compared to 0.02 percent some 14 years ago. ( Lusaka Times -  http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=23496 )

A number of Government , Non-Governmental Organisations and Business Houses are now using ICT in running their day to day operations. This has seen a marked improvement in the dissemination of information and increased speed of processing transactions.

According to a Zambia Country Report by Shafika Isaacs of May 2007, ( www.infodev.org/en/Document.436.pdf )  , the penetration levels of ICTs in Zambia's education institutions remains low, with those schools that are equipped mostly utilizing second-hand and refurbished computers. The integration of ICTs in learning and teaching practice has been limited, although the introduction of computer studies as a school study subject has begun to change this.

The situation in the educational sector has not changed very much since the report was written.

The recent commissioning of the fibre-optic cable from Namibia, which connects the country to the rest of the world with high capacity and fast internet, should see a marked increase in the application of ICT in the educational sector.

With the availability of high capacity and fast internet, establishment of e-learning tools such as Electronic Libraries, Teleconferences and live Interactive Video Classrooms and Seminars are now possible.

The availability of internet in the country is now spreading to all areas of the country. However, there has been some complaint from customers , that despite the connection to the fibre-optic cable, the speed and availability of the internet has continued to be slow and erratic. This is frustrating for those who require a reliable internet connection for such use as Teleconferences and Seminars. There is a need for the Internet Service Providers concerned to upgrade their terminal equipment.

The fibre-optic cable gives a high capacity and fast internet connection, however, this benefit would not be realised with low capacity and outdated terminal equipment.   It is more like driving a low-capacity engine vehicle such as a Fiat 127 or a Mini Cooper on the M20 Highway!

There are cases where, as many as 10 customers share connection to the internet via a single router. This has resulted in congestion and slow speeds during peak hours.

Customers, who can afford single connections, should be encouraged to do so. However, single connections are more expensive than shared connections.

Introducing ICT into the country is a major undertaking, but it represents a good investment in the future productivity of the country's workforce and a down-payment on the country's future prosperity.

It will require a major commitment of resources, but the country will benefit from the change for many years to come. The challenge to the local business community is, therefore, to increasingly participate in ICT in order to realise the Government's ICT sector policy.