Most people today rely on cell phones for the storage of contacts and appointments. This reliance on a single device can be risky and devastating when your phone gets lost or stolen.

To prevent a disaster such as losing important contact details, you need to regularly back up your phone data. Most phones today come with PC suites that allow you to easily manage and back up these data. If you’re using a SonyEricsson phone, use Float’s Mobile Agent, it’s the best PC software for your unit.

The problem with using PC software to back up your data is that you need to regularly connect your phone to your PC in order to get an up-to-date version of your data. I don’t have problems with this as my phone is always connected to my PC when I’m in the office because I exclusively use Float’s Mobile Agent to manage it.

But for those who don’t regularly do this, there’s an easier backup option: use the free zyb.com service. Zyb.com allows you to store your address book and calendar online and then synchronize the data between your account and your phone (or phones since you can use multiple handsets with one account.) (See screenshots below.)

Easy, convenient

If your phone gets lost or stolen, you can just buy a new one, connect this to your zyb.com account and download all your phone contacts and calendar items.

Admittedly, the service isn’t for those uncomfortable with storing important data online. Zyb.com, however, says they have strict privacy policies as well as secure systems to protect your data.

Using zyb.com to backup your phone data is very easy and convenient because you initiate the synchronization on the phone, by clicking on a shortcut.

If your phone can connect to the Internet and it has SyncML (most have), then you can use zyb.com. The site says you can use “almost any mobile” from Nokia, SonyEricsson, Siemens and Motorola and “some of the newer models” from Samsung, LG and others.

ACCOUNT HOMEPAGE. The zyb.com dashboard.

Setup

The service is easy to use. Just go to zyb.com, sign up for an account, enter your phone number and cell phone model and the service will send you a message containing the install settings for your phone. Just follow the instructions on the screen.

To make things even easier, just choose “set up this mobile automatically” and follow the on-screen instructions.

I tried zyb.com using a SonyEricsson K750i on a Smart Communications connection and it worked.

The initial synchronization may take time because the entire phone address book and calendar are being sent but you can speed up synchronization later by choosing to sync only the new data.

The synchronization with my K750i took less than five minutes and when I checked my prepaid load, I found that I merely spent less than 30 Philippine pesos for the transaction (a dollar is 52 pesos).

I then used zyb.com to enter calendar and phone data and then clicked on the Zyb synchronization shortcut in my phone and the data was downloaded to the unit.

TOOLS PAGE. Zyb.com allows you to sync your data across multiple handsets and export your phone book and calendar.

It was a different story with my wife’s phone, though. I tried to sync her SonyEricsson T630 Globe unit to the service and it wouldn’t work.

I don’t know if it was a handset problem or a problem with Globe’s network but I tried and failed more than four times.

Zyb.com, as with a lot of online applications today, is still in beta and undergoing testing. They say that all of the current features will be offered “free forever.” They’re planning, however, to add paid features. Among their planned improvements in the coming months, some of which will be for a fee, are:

automatic and scheduled synchronization

synchronize with an iPod and Outlook

send SMS from ZYB

export to MSN

Online backups can be very helpful. I don’t worry that much today because I have regular backups of my address book, calendar and even SMS messages with FMA. But before I started using the software, I lost a lot of phone book entries when my phone died on me and my son played with its SIM card, rendering it unsalvageable.

If you still don’t have backups of your phone data, sign up for a zyb.com account, back up your data and keep it regularly synchronized to save yourself from a potential disaster that comes with a lost or stolen unit.

EASY SYNCHRONIZATION. Zyb.com allows you to easily synchronize your phone data with your online account.