1G

First-generation wireless; analog cell phones.

2.5G

Second-generation (2G) wireless, plus faster data services.

3G

Third-generation wireless: digital plus high-speed data and global roaming; known as IMT 2000 by the ITU and implemented in Europe as UMTS and in North America as CDMA2000; goals are high-quality multimedia and advanced global roaming (in-house, cellular, satellite).

Access Point

Base station that plugs into Ethernet hub or server; like a cellular phone system cell, users can roam between access points.

ACK

Acknowledge.

ACL Link

Asynchronous Connection-Less link. Provides a packet-switched connection. (Master to any slave)

ACO

Authenticated Ciphering Offset.

AIN

Advanced Intelligent Network. Introduced by AT&T Network Systems in 1991. Enables service providers to define, test and introduce new multimedia messaging, PCS and cell routing.

AM_ADDR

Active Member Address.

AMPS

Advanced Mobile Phone Service; the standard for analog cellular telephones; uses a frequency-modulated transmission and frequency spacing to separate user transmission; operates in the 800MHz band.

AMPS Modem

A wireless modem designed for analog cellular phones.

ANC

All Number Calling. Calling by means of seven digits instead of the previously used two letters plus five digits.

ANI

Automatic Number Identification. A service feature that tells the recipient of a telephone call the telephone number of the person calling them. The number can be passed to computer equipment to automatically retrieve information about the caller's account, such as billing history, account status, etc.

ANSI

American National Standards Institute. U.S. standards group working with the telecommunications industry on the numbering Issue.

AP

Access point; a base station in a wireless LAN. Access points are typically standalone devices that plug into an Ethernet hub or server. Like a cellular phone system, users can roam around with their mobile devices and be handed off from one access point to the other.

API

Application Programming Interface.

AR_ADDR

Access Request Address

ARDIS

Advanced National Radio Data Service; established, nationwide packet data system from American Mobile; provides 19.2kbps.

ARPU

Average Revenue Per Unit. Measures the average monthly revenue generated for each customer unit, such as a cellular phone or pager, that a carrier has in operation. ARPU is an indicator of a wireless business’ operating performance. Severely declining ARPU typically is a negative sign that may indicate a carrier is adding too many low-revenue generating customers to its rolls.

ARQ

Automatic Repeat reQuest

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard code used by computer and data communication systems for translating characters, numbers, and punctuation into digital form. ASCII characters can be recognized by computer and communications devices using a variety of applications.

ASIC

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit. An integrated circuit tailored for a particular piece of electronic equipment. It is intended for sale to only one company and typically developed to meet that company's design objectives for a particular application. Not to be confused with an application specific standard processor, which, like an ASIC, is designed for use in a particular piece of equipment but is intended for sale to multiple companies.

ATB

All Trunks Busy. A condition in which all trunks in a given trunk group are busy.

ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode. A very high-speed transmission technology. ATM is a high bandwidth, low-delay, connection-oriented switching and multiplexing technique. There are efforts underway to develop wireless ATM networks.

AVL

Automatic Vehicle Location. Combining a location-sensing device (such as a GPS receiver) with a wireless communications link to provide a home office or dispatcher with the location of a vehicle or mobile asset (such as a trailer or heavy machinery).

BB

Baseband

B-Band Carrier

A cellular carrier operating in the 869-894 MHz range. In U.S. markets that have only 2 cellular carriers, one is designated the A carrier and the other the B carrier, which operates in the 869-894 MHz range.

B-Carrier

A cellular carrier operating in the 869-894 MHz range. In U.S. markets that have only 2 cellular carriers, one is designated the A carrier and the other the B carrier, which operates in the 869-894 MHz range.

B-CDMA

Broadband Code Division Multiple Access. Wireless transmission technology developed by InterDigital Communications Corp.

BCH

Bose, Chaudhuri & Hocquenghem. Type of code. The persons who discovered these codes in 1959 (H) and 1960 (B&C)

BD_ADDR

Bluetooth Device Address

BellSouth Intelligent Wireless

Nationwide packet network at 8kbps from BellSouth Wireless Data; formerly RAM Mobile Data.

BER

Bit Error Rate

Bit

A contraction of Binary Digit. It is the smallest unit of information in a binary system.

Bluetooth

Wireless personal area network (PAN) standard geared for home and office; uses 2.4GHz band at 720kbps within 30-foot range.

BOC

Bell Operating Company. One of the 22 Bell telephone companies whose primary business is providing local telephone service to customers. They are allowed to market, but not manufacture, new equipment.

BPS

Bits Per Second. The unit of measurement for the rate at which data is transmitted.

BREW

Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless - used by Qualcomm

Broadband Wireless

Wireless transmission at high speed. Wireless transmission is slower than wireline speeds; thus, whereas land-based broadband generally starts at T1 rates, wireless might be considered broadband starting at 250kbps.

BSS

Base station subsystem.

BTA

Basic Trading Area. A service area adopted by the FCC to promote the rapid deployment and ubiquitous coverage of Personal Communications Services (PCS). Built from county boundaries, BTAs generally cover a city and its surrounding environs. BTAs are component parts of Major Trading Areas (MTAs). There are 493 BTAs in the United States .

Bytecode

Content encoding where the content is typically a set of low-level opcodes and operands for a targeted hardware (or virtual) machine.

CAC

Channel Access Code

CALEA

Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act. 1994 legislation that gives law enforcement agencies the right to place wiretaps on new digital wireless networks. CALEA also requires wireless and wireline carriers to make their digital networks able to support law enforcement eavesdropping and wiretapping equipment and activities.

C-Block

Block of PCS spectrum reserved by the U.S. government for women, minorities and other groups, which were expected to be under-represented in FCC spectrum licenses.

CC

Call Control

CCIR #1

Another term for POCSAG, the paging protocol. See entry for POCSAG.

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access. A spread spectrum air interface technology used in some digital cellular, personal communications services and other wireless networks.

CDMA One

2G CDMA (IS 95).

CDMA2000

3G CDMA evolution from CDMA One supported by CDMA One operators; now known as the 1X Multi-Carrier mode (1X MC) in an overall standard for 3G CDMA.

CDPD

Cellular Digital Packet Data. A digital wireless transmission system that is deployed as an enhancement to the existing analog cellular network. Based on IBM's CelluPlan II, it provides a packet overlay onto the AMPS network and moves data at 19.2kbps over ever changing unused intervals in the voice channels. If all the channels are used, the data is stored and forwarded when a channel becomes available. CDPD was developed as a wireless extension to an IP network and uses the four-octet (0.0.0.0) address for connections. CDPD networks cover most of the major urban areas in the United States and have been deployed by AT&T, Ameritech, GTE, BellAtlantic Mobile, and other carriers. By the late 1990s, incompatibility issues had been worked out, and roaming agreements and interoperability between carriers is generally nationwide. CDPD modems are available on PC Cards for laptop and handheld computers.

CL

Connectionless

CLEC

Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. A new entrant providing local wireline phone service.

CMRS

Commercial Mobile Radio Service. FCC designation for any carrier or licensee whose wireless network is connected to the public switched telephone network and/or is operated for profit.

CO

Central Office. Local telephone company's centralized switching equipment and outside plant where calls are switched over the local network or onto a long-distance network.

CODEC

COder DECoder

COF

Ciphering Offset

COLT

Cell Site on Light Truck. A mobile cell site placed on a vehicle and moved to a location to fill in or increase coverage.

Compact HTML (cHTML)

Subset of HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2, and HTML 4.0 specifications designed for limited hardware information appliances.

COW

Cell Site On Wheels. A mobile base station or site. Usually used to fill in or increase coverage.

CPE

Customer Premise Equipment. Any apparatus -including telephone handsets, PBX switching equipment, key and hybrid telephone systems, and add-on devices - that is physically located on a customer's property, as opposed to being housed in the telephone company's central office.

CPNI

Customer Proprietary Network Information. Carrier data about a specific customer’s service and usage.

CPP

Calling Party Pays. Service that charges the originator of a call to a wireless phone, rather than the receiver. Widely used in Europe, CPP is being adopted as a service option by some U.S. wireless carriers.

CRC

Cyclic Redundancy Check

CTIA

Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association

CVSD

Continuous Variable Slope Delta Modulation

DAC

Device Access Code

dB

Decibel - Unit for measuring relative strength of a signal parameter such as power, voltage, etc.

DCE

Data Communication Equipment or Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment. In serial communications, DCE refers to a device between the communication endpoints whose sole task is to facilitate the communications process; typically a modem.

DCI

Default Check Initialization

DECT

(Digital European Cordless Telephone) – Wireless and cordless office phone system in Europe.

DH

Data-High Rate

DIAC

Dedicated Inquiry Access Code

DID

Direct Inward Dialing. Method of connecting calls originating on the public switched telephone network directly to dial specified stations on a PBX system.

Dispatch Radio

Two-way radio used for taxis, trucks, and fleets; always on.

DM

Data Medium Rate. Data packet type for medium rate data

DOD

Direct Outward Dialing. Method of connecting stations on a PBX system to the public switched telephone network through the use of the station dial equipment only.

DSP

Digital Signal Processor. A specialized microprocessor that performs mathematical operations on a data stream in real-time to produce a second (modified) data stream.

DTE

Data Terminal Equipment. In serial communications, DTE refers to a device at the endpoint of the communications path; typically a computer or terminal.

DTMF

Dual Tone Multi-frequency - Method of signaling (dialing) using a tone pad. Each digit dialed generates a unique frequency which the central office is programmed to recognize as a particular digit.

Dual-Mode Handset

Cell phone that switches from analog to digital or from land-based to satellite or from cordless to cellular.

DV

Data Voice. Data packet type for data and voice

E-911

Enhanced 911. Wireless 911 service that provides the automatic number identification (ANI) and automatic location information of a wireless phone used to contact a 911 call center. This information makes it easier and faster for police and rescue services to locate someone in distress who is calling from a wireless phone.

EA

Economic Area License. Geographically defined licenses based on 176 "economic areas" delineated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce. EAs can be grouped into 52 larger "major economic areas" or 12 "regional economic area groupings."

EDGE

Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution; increased data throughput in GSM and TDMA systems to 384kbps.

EMC

Electromagnetic Compatibility. The capability of telecommunications equipment, subsystems, or systems to operate in their intended operational environments without suffering or causing unacceptable degradation because of electromagnetic radiation or response.

EMI

Electromagnetic Interference. Radiation leakage outside a transmission medium that results mainly from the use of high frequency wave energy and signal modulation. Appropriate shielding can reduce EMI.

ERMES

European Radio Messaging System. Paging system used in Europe and other parts of the world.

ESMR

Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio. Digital version of SMR, which includes many features found on digital cellular and PCS phones, including messaging and data services.

ESN </