AMPS

Advanced Mobile Phone System. Developed by Bell Labs in the 1970s and first used commercially in the United States in 1983. It operates in the 800 and 1900 MHz band in the United States and is the most widely distributed analog cellular standard.

C-450

Installed in South Africa during the 1980's. Almost like C-Netz. Now known as Motorphone System 512 and run by Vodacom SA.

C-Netz

Older cellular technology found mainly in Germany and Austria. Operates at 450 MHz.

Comvik

Launched in Sweden in August 1981 by the Comvik network, lasting until March 31, 1996.

N-AMPS

Narrow-band Advanced Mobile Phone System. Developed by Motorola as an interim technology between Analog and digital. It has some three times greater capacity than AMPS and operates in the 800 MHz range. Now defunct.

NMT450

Nordic Mobile Telephones/450. Developed specially by Ericsson and Nokia to service the rugged terrain that characterizes the Nordic countries. The first multi-national cellular network. Operates at 450 MHz.

NMT900

Nordic Mobile Telephones/900. The 900 MHz upgrade to NMT 450 developed by the Nordic countries to accommodate higher capacities and handheld portables.

NMT-F

French version of NMT900

NTT

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. The old Japanese Analog standard. A high-capacity version is called HICAP.

RC2000

Radiocom 2000. French system launched November 1985

TACS 

Total Access Communications System. Developed by Motorola. and is similar to AMPS. It was first used in the United Kingdom in 1985, although in Japan it is called JTAC. It operates in the 900 MHz frequency range. 

A1-Net

Austrian Name for GSM 900 networks

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access. IS-95. Developed by Qualcomm characterized by high capacity and small cell radius. It uses the same frequency bands as AMPS and supports AMPS operation, employing spread-spectrum technology and a special coding scheme. It was adopted by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) in 1993. The first CDMA-based networks are now operational.

 CdmaOne

Wide ranging wireless specification involving IS 95, IS-96, IS-98, IS-99, IS-634 and IS-41.AT&T, Motorola, Lucent, ALPS, GSIC, Prime Co, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony, US West, Sprint, Bell Atlantic, Time Warner are sponsors.

CDPD

Cellular digital packet data. Overlays existing cellular networks to provide faster data transfer. Bell Atlantic Mobile offers it in the New York metropolitan area, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, the greater Philadelphia area, the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas, and North and South Carolina.

CT-2

 A second-generation digital cordless telephone standard. CT2 has 40 carriers x 1 duplex bearer per carrier = 40 voice channels. Supposedly withdrawn in Canada.

CT-3

A third generation digital cordless telephone, which is very similar and a precursor to DECT.

D-AMPS
(IS-54, now rolled into IS-136)

Digital AMPS. Designed to use existing channels more efficiently, D-AMPS (IS-136) employs the same 30 kHz channel spacing and frequency bands (824-849 and 869-894 MHz) as AMPS. By using TDMA instead of frequency division multiple access or FDMA, IS-136 increases the number of users from 1 to 3 per channel. An AMPS/D-AMPS infrastructure can support either Analog AMPS phone or digital AMPS phones. (The Federal Communications Commission mandated that digital cellular in the U.S. must act in a dual-mode capacity with analog). Operates in the 800 MHz band and 1900 Mhz.

 DCS

Can also stand for Digital Communications Systems, another word for American GSM.

DECT

Digital European Cordless Telephony. This started off as Ericsson's CT-3, but developed into the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s. It is intended to be a far more flexible standard than the CT2 standard, in that it has more RF channels (10 RF carriers x 12 duplex bearers per carrier = 120 duplex voice channels). It also has a better multimedia performance since 32kbit/s bearers can be concatenated. Ericsson is developing a dual GSM/DECT handset that will be piloted by Deutsche Telekom. 

E-Netz

The German name for GSM 1800 networks.

GSM 

Global System for Mobile Communications. The first European digital standard, developed to establish cellular compatibility throughout Europe. Its success has spread to all parts of the world and over 80 GSM networks are now operational. It operates at 900 and 1800 MHz in many parts of Europe and in England. Works at 1900 MHz in some parts of the United States. TDMA based. See below.

PCS 

Personal Communications Service. The PCS frequency band iin America is 1850 to 1990 MHz, encompassing a wide range of new digital cellular standards like N-CDMA and GSM 1900. Single-band GSM 900 phones cannot be used on PCS networks. PCS networks operate throughout the USA,

Inmarsat

International Martime Satellite System which uses a number of GEO satellites. Available as Inmarsat A,B,C,and M. Soon to expand their services.

IS-54

TDMA-based technology used by the D-AMPS system at 800 MHz

IS-95

CDMA-based technology used at 800 MHz.

IS-136

TDMA-based technology offered at both 800 and 1800MHz. Should be referred to as cellular. AT&T's choice to offer PCS like services.

JS-008

CDMA based standard for 1,900 MHz. 

Nextel

 Direct connect service offers point-to-point communication as well as a TDMA based cellular telephone in a single handset.

PDC 

Personal Digital Cellular is a TDMA-based Japanese standard operating in the 800 and 1500 MHz bands.

PHS 

Personal Handy System. A Japanese-centric system that offers high-speed data services and good voice clarity.

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access. The first U.S. digital standard to be developed. It was adopted by the TIA in 1992. The first TDMA commercial system began in 1993. Called IS-54 at first and now known as IS-136.

TETRA

Trans European Trunked Radio Systems, designed to support both voice and data. Very new. Mostly used in trucks. Allows roaming. Not yet fully implemented.

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telephone Standard - the next generation of global cellular which should be in place by 2004

WLL

Wireless Local Loop systems limited-number systems are usually found in remote areas where fixed-line usage is impossible. Modern WLL systems use CDMA technology.