Glossary

Air Interface--- a 3g cellphone network 'air interface' is the specification of the radio transmission between base station and mobile phone. It defines the frequencies or the bandwidth of the radio channels, and the encoding methods used such as W-CDMA, TDMA, GPRS

AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone System is the North American analog cellular phone system. AMPS operates in the 800 MHz frequency band. AMPs is used in South America and Asia Pacific. It has not been deployed in Eastern Europe, and is not a 3g compliant nor even digital interface.

AMR -- Adaptive Multi Rate is a high–data rate service and transmission principle for 3G cell phones and networks.

Analog -- Technology which until recently was the norm for cell phones. It imparts lower call quality and a major security risk, and is 1G. It is not a 3G technology.

Asynchronous Transmission -- A mode in which the sending and receiving serial hosts know where a character begins and ends because each byte is framed with a start bit and a stop bit. A start bit indicates the beginning of a new character and is always zero. An extra bit marks the end of the character, and is called a stop bit. It comes after the parity bit, if one is in use.

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Also known as cell relay, is the high bandwidth, controlled-delay packet switching and transmission system using fixed-size packets. ATM may provide the foundation for future broadband ISDN standards.

Auction (of 3G spectrum) -- A method used by governments trying to sell 3G licenses to the highest bidders and is used by many countries.

BAND - Range of radio frequencies between two defined limits which are used in wireless communications. 800 to 1900 MHz is the band used for CDMA.

Bandwidth -- The capacity of a transmission channel. Bandwidth is dependent on the frequency ranges available, the 'bandwidth' or the width of a frequency band determines maximum transmission speed available to subscribers. Each radio channel has a center frequency and additional frequencies above and below this carrier frequency which is used to carry the transmitted information.

BASEBAND -- transmission of a 3g cellphone or analog signal at its original frequencies. This signal is in original form, not changed by modulation of bandwidth.

Base station -- Means Base Transciever Station. The central radio transmitter/receiver that maintains communications with a mobile phone within a given range. Technical term for a mobile phone base station. A BTS contains the transmit and receive technology and also the antennae to provide signal to a radio cell. Several BTSs are administered by a Base Station Controller, which is in turn controlled by a Mobile Switching Center.

Bluetooth -- A radio technology making transmission of signals over short distances between telephones, computers and other devices possible without the use of wires. It is possible to link household appliances to a controlling device, like your 3g cellphone.

Call Drop Rate -- Measure of dropped calls of completed sent or received calls. Because 3G cellphones need stronger signals and require closer towers to carry them, it is possible 3g cellphone networks will have increased dropped call rates, unless carriers increase the density of cell tower base stations.

CAMEL -- Customized application for mobile enhanced logic is a transmission principle facilitating 3G cell phones.

Carrier -- A licensed company (network operator) may market any number of communication services for voice and data. Carriers offer their services to both end-customers, and other service providers.

CARRIER FREQUENCY - The frequency of a radio channel for wireless communications. Same as baseband.

CCITT -- International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee - A standards body based in Geneva providing standards used throughout the world communication industry.

CDMA -- Code Division Multiple Access. CDMA technology was originally developed for military use in the late 1960's, and is a multiple access technique, using sequenced code to divide traffic channels within the same radio channels.

CDMA2000 -- Common name for IMT-2000 CDMA Multi-Carrier is a radio transmission technology for the evolution of narrowband cdmaOne to 3G.

CDMA2000 1X -- The first step migration to 3G is cdma2000 1X, which improves packet data transmission capabilities and speeds in the network, and also boosts voice capacity by nearly two times over today's CDMA capacities. CDMA200 1X features up to 144kbps data transfer.

CDMA2000 1xRTT Code Division Multiple Access is a term for a technology in the first phases of migration to true 3G technology.

CDMA2000 1XEV -- CDMA2000 1XEV will be the second step in the evolution of CDMA2000, and will bring data rates up to 2Mbps to the network.

CDMA2000 3X -- 3G technology offering 3 times the carrier frequencies of CDMA.

CDMAOne (IS-95) -- CDMAOne is a digital mobile phone standard based on the CDMA principle, which is used in North America, Korea and Japan. cdmaOne uses frequency ranges around 800MHz and 1900MHz. For migration to third generation mobile telephony, cdmaOne networks can be upgraded to the cdma2000 broadband standard.

Cellular Mobile Telephone System -- System of "cells" covered in geographic areas by a base stations. This area is known as a cell. When a cellphone moves from one cell to another cell, the call is seamlessly moved to the base station in the new cell. There is usually a control channel used to help organize the transfers.

CODEC -- enhanced speech compression / decompression is a 3G cellphone communication principle

Coverage -- Refers to the region within which a 3G cellphone or wireless device should receive transmission of the signals. It is the geographical reach of a mobile phone network or system.

D-AMPS Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System -- Earlier designation of American standard for digital mobile telephony, and an early 2G standard.

Digital -- A digital signal is composed only of electrical pulses representing either zero or one or binary streams. Digital encoding increases the capacity of a given radio frequency, and reduces static because signal corruption doesn't interfere until the stream of zeros and ones is unrecognizable.

Dual Band -- dual band mobile phones can work on networks that operate on different networks or frequency bands.

ECTRA -- European Committee on Telecommunications Regulatory Affairs

EDGE -- Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution

EFR enhanced full rate (EFR), is a high–data rate service for 3G cell phones and devices.

ERC -- European Radio Committee

ERO -- European Radiocommunications Office of CEPT

ETSI -- European Telecommunications Standards Institute

FCC -- Federal Communications Commission - The FCC regulates all systems capable of interstate communications in the United States.

FDD -- Frequency Division Duplex

Fast Packet Switching -- A digital packet-orientated technology that uses short, fixed length packets and is capable of speeds up to 1,000,000 packets/second, which would support video, multimedia, or any number of 3G cellphone features.

GPRS -- General Packet Radio Service

GHZ -- GigaHertz - One GigaHertz is equal to a billion hertz.

GSM -- Global Standard for Mobile Communications. GSM serves more than 70 percent of the world's digital cellular wireless market with over 650 million subscribers as of May 2002 making GSM the world’s most widely used mobile system. It uses the 1900 MHz frequency baseband in North and Latin America.

GSM 1800 -- is the digital GSM network used in Europe and Asia using the 1800 MHz frequency.

GSM 1900 -- or PCS 1900 uses the 1900 MHz frequency in North America and Africa.

GSM 900 -- GSM 900, called GSM, is the most widely used digital network and now operating in more than 100 countries around the world.

Hand-Over -- The passing of a call signal from one base station to the next as the user moves out of range, re-routing the call.

HERTZ -- Measures frequency in cycles per second. One Hertz is one cycle per second.

HSCSD High Speed Circuit Switched Data -- technology for higher transmission speeds of up to 57 kilobits per second as with GSM systems.

ISO -- International Standards Organization - A body that sets standards and promotes their use throughout several industries around the world. They help set standards not only for 3G cellphone networks, but quality control and many other industrial issues.

IMT-2000 -- The term used by the United Nations ITU or International Telecommunications Union for the specification for the projected 3g cellphone or wireless services due by year 2000. Formerly referred to as Future Public Land Mobile Telephone Systems.

IN -- Intelligent Network, A capability with well developed network infrastructure in a telecom network environment allowing new services such as free phones or televoting to be developed quickly and introduced on any scale, from a local trial to network-wide.

ITU -- International Telecommunication Union is a United Nations body working on standards for deplyment of 3G cellphone networks internationally.

ISDN Integrated Service Digital Network -- A technology offering high speed transmission of data, voice, and video transmitted through existing fixed lines.

IS-95 CDMA One-- A second-generation digital air interface based on CDMA technology pioneered by US firm Qualcomm and used extensively in South Korea.

Multiplexing -- Multiple signals or streams of information sent on a carrier frequency at the same time in the form of a complex signal. Recovered signals at the receiving end and the device puts all the pieces together properly, so each functions properly. i.e. a 3G cell phone sending and receiving a videoconference.

PCN -- Personal Communications Networks are networks over which 3G cell phones and similar devices communicate.

PCS -- Personal Communications Service. A generic term for a mass-market mobile personal communications service, no matter which 3g cell phone provider, network, or equipment.

PDC -- Personal Digital Cellular uses TDMA and is a digital wireless standard used in Japan.

Protocol -- The special set of rules for communicating that the transmitting receivers use in a telecommunication connection when they send signals back and forth.

RF -- Radio Frequency usually refers to the non ionizing type radiation emitted by 3G cellphones, wireless base station towers, and wireless equipment as they send and receive signals

Silent Alert -- Non-audible signal, usually vibrating, to silently alert the 3G cellphone user of incoming calls or alarm clock trigger.

SMS -- Short Messaging Service 3g and other wireless services allow customers to use their cellphones to send pages or messages using the keypad.

TDD -- Time Division Duplex

TDMA -- Time Division Multiple Access is a digital transmission format used for D-AMPS and GSM format.

TRANSMISSION FREQUENCY -- The rate in hertz at which a radio transmitter repeats a signal pattern. It is a number representing the wireless service company frequencies.

UMTS -- Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

UTRA -- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

UTRAN -- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network

WAP -- Wireless Application Protocol. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open, global specification that empowers mobile users with wireless devices to easily access and interact with information and services instantly.

Watt -- Basic unit of power. The formula is voltage multiplied by the current, or V X Amps.

WCDMA -- Wideband CDMA: Technology for wideband wireless access supporting 3G cellphone services, and allows very high-speed multimedia services like internet access and videoconferencing.

WIFI or Wi-Fi -- is Wireless Fidelity or 802.11b. It is a wireless standard capable of far exceeding the data transmission expectations of 3G or third generation. Voicestream is incorporating 3g and wi-fi in research, and may release a commercial version.

WLL -- WLL Wireless Local Loop. A radio access technology that links subscribers into a fixed public telecom network. The radio link replaces the local phone lines.

WMF -- Wireless Message Format - Sends data through wireless means to mobile computers.

WRC -- World Radio Conference