Cellular Telephones are no longer just for the Business Person or the Rich. Today, with the many plans and competition, they are priced so all can own one. This page has links to many of the National Cellular / PCS Providers and the manufactures of the phones. There are many more local only providers of Cellular Telephones that may offer you just what you need.
of Wireless Service
National plans offer the use of the cellular phone anywhere in the United States. As long as you stay on their network, there usually is no roaming charges. Some offer National Long Distance in there plans so there are no long distant charges. These are based on a fixed number of minutes per month, with a specified amount per minute for calls over that amount..
Local plans usually offer local or extended local calling areas for a fixed number of minutes per month. If you don't travel and don't need long distance coverage these plans are usually cheaper then the National Calling Plans.
National Anthem - Star Spangled Banner - Francis Scott Key
In the wake of the tragic events that
occurred on Tuesday, September 11, 2001,
our hearts go out to those people and
their famalies who have been affected.
Melody - God Bless America - Irving Berlin
Medley - America Songs & Hymns
America the Beautiful - Katherine Lee Bates
Song - God Bless America - Sung by Kate Smith
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Sprint PCS Coverage
;)
ALLTEL National Coverage
;)
NEXTEL National Coverage
;)
Mergers
Air Touch Cellular, Bell Atlantic Mobile, GTE Wireless and PrimeCo are now Verizon
Verizon National Network
;)
Aerial, Omnipiont, Powertel and VoiceStream have merged into VoiceStream Wireless
VoiceStream Digital Network
;)
U S West
has merged with
Qwest.
Qwest Network
;)
Joint Ventures
;)
(PCS) Personal Communications System
This Page broken down into several pages at PCS Wireless Service
Providers / Manufactures / Information
Wireless Service (WS)
American and european consumers to benefit from combined company's wireless communications services based on GSM, world's leading digital standard -- New Services Announced; "WorldClass” Single-Rate International Roaming Service Launched in Europe, U.S. to Follow in Fall 2001 -- Full Press Release at VoiceStream Wireless or Deutsche Telekom.
Welcome to our VoiceStream Special! (Deutsche Telekom - English)
Welcome to our VoiceStream Special! (Deutsche Telekom - Deutsch)
Deutsche Telekom Home Page (English)
Deutsche Telekom Home Page (Deutsch)
Motorola Accompli™, Personal Interactive Communicator, Model 009
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Tri-Band GSM World Phones
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Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS / FDMA / Analog)
AMPS or Advanced Mobile Phone Service or analog or Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) is the underlying technology for traditional analog cellular systems. FDMA channels are defined by a selected range of 30 kHz radio frequencies, which can handle only 1 call at a time. This means fewer calls can be served by each cell and more cells are required to increase capacity.
Back to PCS Technologies
The analog cellular system has the widest coverage of any system, with service available in almost any city or town, and on most highways in the US. For this reason, analog cellular will remain the only wireless data option in rural areas for some time to come. It should be considered as a backup solution to PCS technologies.
Analog cellular technology is not included as a PCS technology because PCS only refers to digital technologies, which were designed specifically to provide improvements over analog. There is only one standard for analog technology.
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Technology
CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access Technology that is used in North America is based on the IS-95 protocol standard first developed by Qualcomm. CDMA uses spread spectrum techniques for transmitting voice or data over the air. Rather than dividing RF spectrum into separate user channels by frequency slices or time slots, spread spectrum technology separates users by assigning them digital codes within the same broad spectrum. The advantages of CDMA technology includes high user capacity of at least 8 to 10 times over AMPS, and immunity from interference by other signals. Like TDMA IS-136, CDMA operates in the 1900 MHz band as well as the 800 MHz band.
CDMA's advantages include greater capacity and coverage with lower costs and faster deployment, a better method for call handoff between cells, better voice quality, reduced interference, inherent security, and, in the future, superior support for data communications.
Major US carriers using CDMA are AirTouch*, Bell Atlantic*, GTE*, PrimeCo*, Sprint PCS and USWest. (* now Verizon Wireless)
- Air Touch (Verizon)
- Bell Atlantic (Verizon)
- GTE Wireless (Verizon)
- PrimeCo (Verizon)
- Sprint PCS
- US West
- Verizon Wireless
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Technology
TDMA or Time Division Multiple Access Technology is so named because frequency bands available to the network are divided into time slots, with each user having access to one time slot at regular intervals. TDMA makes more efficient use of available bandwidth than previous generation analog technology for 3 calls per channel. Like CDMA, TDMA IS-136 exists in North America at both the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands.
TDMA normally co-exists with analog channels on the same network. One advantage of this dual-mode technology is that users can benefit from the broad coverage of established analog networks while TDMA coverage grows within, and at the same time take advantage of the more advanced technology of TDMA where it exists.
Major US carriers using TDMA are AT&T Wireless Services, BellSouth and SouthWestern Bell.
- AT&T Wireless (Cingular)
- BellSouth Mobility (Cingular)
- SouthWestern Bell (Cingular)
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 1900
GSM or Global System for Mobile Communications 1900, also known as PCS-1900 or DCS-1900, is one of the three PCS technologies in North America. Like TDMA, GSM's air interface is based on narrowband TDMA technology, where available frequency bands are divided into time slots, with each user having access to one time slot at regular intervals. Narrow band TDMA allows 8 simultaneous communications on a single radio multiplexer and is designed to support 16 half-rate channels.
GSM is currently the only one of the three technologies that provides data services (the capability to do email, fax, Internet browsing, and intranet.LAN access wirelessly).
GSM is also the only one that permits roaming between North America and European countries. This works by removing the user-specific SIM card from inside the American network's phone and placing it into a European network's phone, or vice-versa.
The European version of GSM operates at the 900 MHz frequency
, and now at the newer 1800 MHz frequency. Since the North American version of GSM operates at the 1900 MHz frequency, the phones are not interoperable, but the SIM's are. Dual band 900 - 1800 and 900 - 1900 phones are already released and in production, along with the new Tri-Band 900 - 1800 - 1900 GSM Phones which now allow interoperability between Europe and North America.Major US carriers using GSM 1900 are Omnipoint*, Pacific Bell, BellSouth DCS, VoiceStream, Western Wireless (CellularOne), Nextel, Powertel*, and Aerial*. (* now VoiceStream) GSM service is now available in most, but not all, metropolitan areas.
- Aerial (VoiceStream)
- BellSouth DCS (Cingular)
- CellularOne (Cingular/SBC)
- Nextel Worldwide SM
- Omnipoint PCS (VoiceStream)
- Pacific Bell (Cingular/SBC)
- PowerTel (VoiceStream)
- VoiceStream (Deutsche Telekom)
- Western Wireless
Motorola i2000 Dual-Mode iDEN/GSM Handset
The i2000, a dual mode wireless handset is designed to enable international business travelers to remain in contact with a single phone number and single billing, between continents. The i2000 handset allows users to roam on iDEN networks throughout North America, South America and Asia Pacific. Additionally, the handset's GSM capability enables roaming in more than 125 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. While on iDEN networks, the i2000 handset enables customers to instantly connect with one, or even hundreds of people, at the push of a button. Service provided by NEXTEL.
iDEN Technology Overview
iDEN is built on more than 50 years of developing wireless communications products-from two-way dispatch radios to pagers to cellular phones-Motorola has developed an innovative digital technology known as iDEN-Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network. It enables users to take full advantage of the benefits of the wireless world by integrating four communication services into one network, using one phone. Motorola's concept of integrated wireless business communications offers advanced capabilities that bring together the capabilities of dispatch radio, full-duplex telephone interconnect, short message service and future data transmission.
The iDEN technology is based on a variety of proven RF technologies. Motorola engineers took these technologies and enhanced them in order to gain the increased capacity necessary to support a fully optimized, wireless digital network. The technology offers increased spectral efficiency and full-service integration, two of the main benefits of digital communications.
IMPROVED SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY
The capacity to accommodate crowded markets and worldwide growth is a critical component of iDEN. The development of this spectrally efficient technology allows multiple communications to occur over a single analog channel. This expansion of the network gives users greater access to the network and provides space for new and expanded services to be added without rebuilding the infrastructure.
iDEN represents the most advanced step toward the development of an integrated, wireless business communications system that can satisfy the long-term capacity demands of the marketplace. The increased capacity is due to a combination of unique technologies-Motorola's VSELP vocoding technique and QAM modulation process-as well as the TDMA channel splitting process.
MOTOROLA'S VSELP - CODING SIGNALS FOR EFFICIENT TRANSMISSION
The driving force behind the expanded capacity of iDEN is the reduced transmission rate needed to send information. Motorola has developed a vocoder (short for voice coder) technology that compresses voice signals into digital packets of information that are time assigned, transmitted, and received on the iDEN network. This vocoder, known as VSELP (Vector Sum Excited Linear Predictors), compresses the voice signals to reduce the transmission rate needed to send information.
In addition, VSELP provides for clear voice transmission by digitizing the voice's essential elements, thus providing high-quality audio under conditions that might have resulted in a distorted analog voice. If a speech segment gets lost over the radio channel, the VSELP decoder even can "repair" the effect through speech extrapolation. The result is less distortion and interference (e.g., break-up, static, fading) as users move toward fringe coverage area, enhancing the clarity and quality of iDEN's voice communications.
QAM MODULATION
While the VSELP compresses the signal and reduces the transmission rate, the QAM (Quad Amplitude Modulation) increases the density of the information. Modulation is the process of adding information to the radio wave that alters the size and speed of the radio wave to represent the information content of the signal. More advanced modulation, like QAM, can increase the density of the information put on the signal.
QAM modulation technology was specifically designed to support the digital requirements of the iDEN network. Motorola's unique QAM technology transmits information at a 64 kilobit per second rate. Higher transmission rates mean squeezing more information onto existing channels, resulting in increased spectral capacity. No other existing modulation technology transmits as much information in a narrow band channel.
MULTIPLIED CHANNEL CAPACITY
Another key element of the iDEN network is the time-proven technology of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). TDMA is a technique for dividing the wireless radio channel into multiple communication pathways. For more information on TDMA see above, TDMA Technology.
Major US carrier using iDEN is NEXTEL.
ITU delegates approve three new global cellular bands
Should lead to low-cost 'global phones'
By Bob Brewin
06/02/2000 Delegates to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) World Radio Conference (WRC) in Istanbul, Turkey, designated three new global frequency bands needed to support the explosive growth in the use of cellular telephones and mobile wideband data services.One of those bands is currently allocated in the U.S. to fixed wireless "last mile" services planned by MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp.
The new global frequency bands allocated for International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) service at the conclusion of the month-long WRC today marks a new era in the establishment of "global wireless systems," according to IT Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi. Designation of the new, standard global mobile bands — 806- to 960-MHz, 1710- to 1885-MHz and 2500- to 2690-MHz (2.5 GHz) — is expected to cut costs for manufacturers and ultimately users, said conference participants.
According to Tim Hewitt, IMT-2000 coordinator for Europe at the WRC, "Manufacturers worldwide now know the limits of frequencies for which terminals must be designed. . . . A limited number of globally identified bands (means) the manufacturers have the best opportunities to reduce costs via economies of scale."
The global mobile bandwidth plan adopted by the WRC "provides for a great deal of flexibility...(and) does not preclude the use of these bands for . . . other services," an ITU spokesman said. That was "a key factor that enabled consensus to be reached."
Fixed wireless operators in the U.S., such as MCI WorldCom in Jackson, Miss., and Sprint in Kansas City, Mo., have spent billions of dollars to acquire licenses in the 2.5-GHz bands to bypass local telephone companies and hook their long-distance networks into a customer's business or home. Those carriers have therefore viewed the possibility of mobile use in that band with alarm.
Ambassador Gail Schoettler, head of the U.S. WRC delegation, didn't rule out the use of the 2.5-GHz band for mobile use, even though the decisions reached in Istanbul would allow her such leeway. During a press teleconference from Istanbul today, Schoettler said, "The (U.S. Federal Communications Commission) will be doing a study of sharing in that band, and the (U.S. Department of Defense) will do a study of sharing in the 1700-MHz band."
Andrew Kreig, president of the Wireless Communications Association International, a fixed wireless industry association, said he believes such studies would show "there is already heavy use of the 2.5-GHz band, which is totally incompatible with mobile use."
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