Wireless Glossary of Terms

  A-B                C-D                E-F                G-I                L-M               N-P                Q-S                T-V                W-Z 

LAN (Local Area Network): Is a small data network covering a limited area, such as a building or group of buildings. Most LANs connect workstations or personal computers. This allows many users to share devices, such as laser printers, as well as data. The LAN also allows easy communication, by facilitating e-mail or supporting chat sessions. 

Location Based Services (LBS): An information, advertising or entertainment service that uses the geographical position of a cell phone. CTIA developed voluntary Best Practices and Guidelines for Location-Based Services to promote and protect user privacy.
 
LTE (Long Term Evolution): The next-generation network beyond 3G. In addition to enabling fixed to mobile migrations of Internet applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP), video streaming, music downloading, mobile TV and many others, LTE networks will also provide the capacity to support an explosion in demand for connectivity from a new generation of consumer devices tailored to those new mobile applications.
 
Machine-to-Machine (M2M): Applications or mobile units that use wireless networks to communicate with other machines. These applications may include telemetry and telematic devices, remote monitoring systems (e.g. smart grid, healthcare, transportation, etc) and other devices that provide status reports to businesses’ centers (e.g. operations, traffic management, data management, etc).
 
Megahertz (MHz): Is a unit of frequency equal to one million hertz or cycles per second.  Wireless mobile communications within the United States generally occur in the 800 MHz, 900MHz and 1900MHz spectrum frequency bands.
 
mHealth (Mobile Health): The use of mobile devices and technology in health care. This includes text message reminders to prompt them to take medication, follow a certain diet, engage in physical activity, check glucose levels, monitor blood pressure and more. It can also be used to monitor patients’ health and track and guide self-care beyond the doctors’ offices.
 
mLearning (Mobile Learning): Education that takes advantage of the opportunities mobile devices provides, including not being prohibited by location. This includes sending text messages for in-class participation or voting, accessing the mobile Internet for information or conducting homework assignments.
 
MIN (Mobile Identification Number): The MIN, more commonly known as a wireless phone number, uniquely identifies a wireless device within a wireless carrier's network. The MIN is dialed from other wireless or wireline networks to direct a signal to a specific wireless device. The number differs from the electronic serial number, which is the unit number assigned by a phone manufacturer.  MINs and ESNs can be electronically checked to help prevent fraud.
 
MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area): One of the 306 urban-centered cellular service areas based on the largest urban markets as designated by the U.S. government in 1980. Two “cellular” service operators are licensed in each MSA.
 
MTA (Major Trading Area): A geographic area designed by Rand McNally to reflect business centers, and adopted by the FCC for the licensing of Personal Communications Services and some other wireless services. MTAs are composed of neighboring basic trading areas (BTAs) associated with major business centers. The U.S. is divided into 51 MTAs, which do not reflect state boundaries.
 
MTSO (Mobile Telephone Switching Office): The central computer that connects wireless phone calls to the public telephone network. The MTSO controls the series of operations required to complete wireless calls, including verifying calls, billing and antenna handoffs. 
 
MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator): A company that buys network capacity from a network operator in order to offer its own branded mobile subscriptions and value-added services to customers.

Last Updated: July 2011