Wireless Glossary of Terms
A-B C-D E-F G-I L-M N-P Q-S T-V W-Z
NAM (Number Assignment Module): The NAM is the electronic memory bank in the wireless phone that stores its specific telephone number and electronic serial number.
Number Pooling: A means by which phone numbers are conserved. Phone numbers are returned by most carriers to a central authority, which then pools them. Carriers then receive numbers in blocks of 1,000, not 10,000 as was originally the case. Smaller blocks of numbers reduce the carriers’ cost and maximize the availability of new numbers to meet public demand.
Number Portability: The ability of a customer to retain their telephone number when changing service providers in a specific area, whether changing from one wireless company to another, one wireline company to another, or between wirelesss and wireline companies.
OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing): A system for the transmission of digital message elements spread over multiple channels within a frequency band, in order to achieve greater throughput while minimizing interference and signal degradation through the use of multiple antennas.
Packet: A piece of data sent over a packet-switching network, such as the Internet. A packet includes not just the data comprising the message but also address information about its origination and destination.
Packet Data: Information that is reduced into digital pieces or ‘packets’, so it can travel more efficiently across networks, including radio airwaves and wireless networks.
PCS (Personal Communications Services): Defined by the FCC as a broad family of wireless services, commonly viewed as including two-way digital voice, messaging and data services. One set of “PCS” licenses established by the FCC operates in the 1900 MHz band.
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant): A portable computing device capable of transmitting data. These devices offer services such as paging, data messaging, e-mail, computing, faxes, date books and other information management capabilities.
PIN (Personal Identification Number): An additional security feature for wireless phones, much like a password. Programming a PIN into the Subscriber Information Module (SIM) on a wireless phone requires the user to enter that access code each time the phone is turned on.
POPs: For wireless, POPs generally refers to the number of people in a specific area where wireless services are available (the population). For traditional ‘landline’ communications, a “Point of Presence” defines the interconnection point between the two networks.
Protocol: A standard set of definitions governing how communications are formatted in order to permit their transmission across networks and between devices.
PSD (Packet Switched Data): A technological approach in which the communication “pipe” is shared by several users, thus making it very efficient. The data is sent to a specific address with a short delay. This delay depends on how many users are using the pipe at any one time as well as the level of priority requested for your information. PSD is the technology used for data communication across the Internet and makes more efficient use of the network.
Global Mobile Spectrum
Allocations Map
This interactive map will help you learn about spectrum allocation, country-by-country, collected per continent.
In addition, the map offers data as granular as the available technologies (Frequency – MHz), as well as the region designation per the ITU, on a per country basis.
Click here to learn more.