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Glossary of Terms
Airtime - Actual time spent talking on the wireless phone.
Most carriers bill customers based on how many
minutes of airtime they use each month.
Antenna - A device for transmitting or receiving signals. The
size and shape of antennas is determined, in part,
by the frequency of the signal they receive.
Wireless phones and the base station must have
antennas.
Base Station - The fixed radio transmitter/receiver that
maintains communications with mobile radio
telephones within a given area. (Typically
seen as cell or cell site)
CDMA - (Code Division Multiple Access) A spread-spectrum
approach to digital transmission. With CDMA, each
conversion is digitized and then tagged with a code.
The mobile phone deciphers only a particular code
to pick the right conversation off the air. The trans-
mitted signal is just above noise level across the
available bandwidth.
Channel - Communications signals transmit along paths
called channels.
Codec - Compression & Decompression.
Deactivation - The process of rendering a wireless phone
inactive.
DTMF - (Dual-tone Modulated Frequency ) You send DTMF
signals when you enter numbers by pressing the
digit keys.
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Glossary of Te r m s
EVRC - (Enhanced Variable Rate Codec) EVRC is a new global
standard for compressing and decompressing voice
signals. EVRC uses a lower bit rate (the number of bits
sent per second) than existing CDMA vocoders, while
providing significant improvements in voice quality.
This technology enables your phone to provide superb
voice quality while benefiting from the ability to
process more cellular voice calls using less bandwidth
than the voice codecs in CDMA networks today.
Frequency - A measure based on time, as one or more waves
per second, in an electrical or light wave infor-
mation signal. A signal's frequency is stated in
cycles-per-second or Hertz (Hz).
Hands-Free - A feature that permits a driver to use a wire-
less phone without lifting or holding the
handset - an important safety feature for
automobiles, tractors and most other motorized
vehicles.
LCD - (Liquid Crystal Display) Commonly used to refer to the
screen display on the wireless phone.
LED - (Light Emitting Diode) Commonly used to refer to a
small light on the wireless phone or on the Desktop
Charger. The LED lights on the phone to indicate an
incoming call. The lights on the charger to indicate that
battery charging is taking place.
Prepend - The addition of a prefix, such as an area code, to a
phone number.
RF - Radio Frequency
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Glossary of Te r m s
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