Below are some Frequently Asked Questions regarding Cellular
Service Providers in general, and AT&T in particular. For more
general Cellular Data Questions and Answers, please see the Wireless
Cellular Data FAQ here.
| Question |
Answer |
| I keep
hearing strange terms whenever people talk about Wireless
Cellular Data. Terms like GSM, TDMA, CDMA and AMPS keep
popping up – what do these mean? |
- GSM, TDMA, CDMA and AMPS are all forms of Wireless
communication technologies. Each provides a different
method of carrying data (or voice) from its source phone
or computer to its destination phone or computer. Each
is explained in some detail below:
- GSM (Global System for Mobile communication)
GSM is a digital mobile telephone system that is widely
used around the world (especially in Europe). GSM uses a
variation of TDMA and is the most widely used of all
three digital wireless telephone technologies. GSM
digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a
channel with two other streams of user data, each in its
own time slot
- TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
TDMA (used in GSM, above) is a technology which divides
each cellular channel into three slots in order to
increase the amount of data that can be carried on a
particular channel at a particular time.
- CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
CDMA, unlike TDMA and GSM, after digitizing data,
spreads it out over the entire bandwidth available to it
(unlike GSM and TDMA which place the calls side by side
in three streams). Multiple calls are then overlapped on
top of each other, and each is assigned a unique
sequencing code to "unlock" the information
only when and where it should be unlocked.
- AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System)
AMPS is the original standard for cellular products. All
AMPS phones should work in almost any region across
Canada or the United States.
|
| I have a
Dual Mode Cellular Phone, yet I cannot make Digital Data
calls - why not? |
- Digital data calls require different services on the
network than those present during a Digital voice call.
Even if your Dual Mode phone can make Digital voice
calls on your cellular network, you may not be able to
make Digital data calls. This is of particular note on
AT&T's network, as Digital Data service is not
readily available anywhere in the United States. AT&T
have yet to activate Digital Data services for the
majority of their customers. Ositech's products will work in Analog
mode on AT&T's network, but you will not be able to
make a Digital data call using AT&T's network.
|
| Are there
any extra costs from Ositech to use their product once I've
purchased it from them? |
- No. Ositech is a manufacturer and supplier of PC Cards
and Wireless Mobile Data solutions. We do not operate a
network which would require users to purchase time from
us at any point. While there will likely be costs from a
service provider in order to use their Digital Data
network, there are no costs/charges from Ositech once
you have purchased one of our data products.
|
| Is a
separate Data plan required from AT&T? |
- Separate Data plans are often required on networks
with Digital Data services activated. Since AT&T
does not offer Digital Data, you will be using their
AMPs network to make Analog connections, something which
is not network dependant and therefore does not require
a separate plan to use.
|
| Can I use my
current Internet Service Provider with Ositech's Wireless
Data Products? |
- While you should be able to continue using your
current ISP with Ositech's products, you will have to be
sure of a few things. As Cellular data generally
provides a slower form of connection than traditional
landline modems, you will have to confirm that your ISP
will accept low speed dial-up connections (below 19,200
for Digital and below 9600 for Analog). As long as your
ISP can handle lower speed connections, you should have
no difficulty making Wireless Data connections without
switching Dial-Up providers. Please contact your ISP for
clarification.
|
| My
connection speeds seem particularly low, how do I get a
faster data connection? |
- Wireless Data connections are slower than their
landline counterparts. This is a factor of the existing
Wireless Network infrastructure. In order to obtain the
best connection speeds possible, you may want to follow
the simple tips found in the Wireless Cellular Data FAQ
(here). In terms of simple
solutions, Digital connections will tend to yield faster
speeds than their Analog counterparts (although this
cannot be done with AT&T, as no Digital Data
infrastructure is available).
|
| If
you have further questions not answered above, check out our
Education page or e-mail the Webmaster. |
