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Cell PhoneGlossary

Telecommunications Act of 1996: Federal legislation passed in 1996 intended to increase competition among wireless and wireline carriers for the benefit of consumers.

Termination Charges: Charges incurred by the carrier for having a cellphone call completed by a different carrier network.

Tri-mode handset: Phones that work on three frequencies, typically using 1900 MHz, 800 MHz digital or reverting to 800 MHz analog cellular when digital is not available.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System): GSM that is a bridge to 3G technology. The underlying transmission standard is WCDMA.

Universal service: The government's aim, starting in the 1930s, of providing phone service to all, regardless of distance from the switch or ability to pay. Today, universal service encompasses those aims, plus a subsidy to public schools, libraries and rural health care facilities for telecom services.

Voice-activated dialing: A feature available only on selected phones that permits you to dial numbers by calling them out to your cellular phone, instead of dialing them manually. This function is especially convenient for making calls from your vehicle while driving.

Voice mail: (Also called voice messaging) A computerized answering service that automatically answers your call, plays a greeting in your own voice and records a message. After you retrieve your messages, you can delete, save, reply to or forward the messages to someone else on your voice mail system.

Voice Recognition: A feature allowing cellphones to be operated by spoken words.

Vibrating Alert: A cellphone feature telling the user of an incoming call by means of a vibration mechanism.

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP): A new industry standard for wireless access to the Internet. The protocol allows instant and easy interaction for mobile devices.

Watt: Basic unit of power. The formula is voltage multiplied by the current, or V X Amps.

WCDMA( Wideband CDMA): Technology for wideband wireless access supporting 3G cellphone services, and allows very high-speed multimedia services like internet access and videoconferencing. Often called UMTS and uses wider 5 MHz channels (vs. 1.25 MHz for CDMA) for increased voice traffic capacity and peak data rates of 384 kbps.

Glossary End