A driver wears a hands-free mobile phone ear piece while waiting in traffic at the Bay Bridge toll plaza in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Ontario has become the fourth province to restrict driving and talking on a cellphone. Consumers have the option of several kinds of devices to obey the law including headsets, voice-activated devices and car kits. THE CANADIAN PRESS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS-Jeff Chiu

MONTREAL - Real estate agent Marcus Caporicci was out to buy a little device to "put into my ear" to let him drive and talk on his mobile phone.

"I am pulled over in a parking lot right now because I don't have a hands-free device," said Caporicci in an interview from London, Ont.

Motorists in Ontario are now banned from using any hand-held electronic device to text, email or talk while driving, unless it's a 911 call or the driver has safely pulled off the road.

It is the fourth province to enact such a ban, following Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Consumers can buy headsets, ear pieces, voice-activated systems, or even cars with built-in systems that give drivers hands-free control of their mobile phone, MP3 player or GPS navigation device.

Bluetooth is the technology that's commonly used, a term that Caporicci said he was most familiar with.

"Pretty much all I know is Bluetooth," he said.

Bluetooth is short-range wireless networking technology and allows different devices to communicate with each other, for example, a mobile phone to an ear piece or a computer to a printer.

"What has really popularized that technology among consumers are those ear pieces that look like spiders that sit in your ear," said technology analyst Carmi Levy.

To answering the ringing cellphone, you just press the button on the headset and end the call the same way while the phone can stay where it is, said Levy of Toronto's AR Communications Inc.

They can range from $30 to about $200.

A Waterloo, Ont., technology company also makes a small device called iLane that will read aloud emails and can also verbally compose them.

"As soon as you enter your vehicle, iLane takes control of your smartphone via Bluetooth," said Ken Truffen, vice-president of marketing for iLane maker Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc.

"Essentially you have access to all of your key smartphone functions by using simple voice commands," Truffen said, adding the device costs $399.

Technology writer Jennifer Kavur said what's known as a car kit is also an option. It's basically a speaker phone that can clip on the vehicle's sun visor.

"You can get more sophisticated models that offer voice-activated calling and tell you who is calling," said Kavur, senior writer at ComputerWorld Canada.

"It can potentially give you directions through your GPS if your phone supports that," Kavur said.

The speakerphone "pairs" with your phone via Bluetooth and lets you make, receive and end calls from the speakerphone device.

Kavur said for those who aren't technologically savvy she would recommend a car kit instead of a headset.

"You don't have to get used to having a device in one ear. It just seems a bit more natural because it's as if someone is talking to you in the car rather than through one ear."

Levy said a lot of consumers have GPS devices on their dashboards and higher-end GPS devices have Bluetooth technology embedded in them and can be paired with a mobile phone, making a hands-free device.

"It allows you to initiate and end phone calls."

Truffen said he's asked all of the time if the iLane will also distract drivers even if their mobile phones aren't in their hands.

"The reality is people are checking their emails on the road," Truffen said. "You don't anymore have to look between your legs and start typing on your BlackBerry because we know that's dangerous."