Acronym for Code Division Multiple Access, is one of two major protocols for digital cellular telephony (the other is TDMA). Unlike TDMA, which gives each phone a unique slice of time in which it may transmit or receive without competition from other users on the same channel, encodes each caller’s signal across the full range of available frequencies; the signals are decoded and separated when they are received. In theory, allows more simultaneous users than TDMA.
Capable of operating at 800 MHz or 1900 MHz, TDMA enables Personal Communication Services (PCS), such as paging, text-based Internet access by means of the Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP), and voice mail, when operating at the higher frequency. Initial versions of services offer point-to-point (circuit-switched) data transfer rates of 14.4 Kbps. US carriers include Sprint PCS and Verizon. Synonymous with spread spectrum and full spectrum. See digital cellular phone, TDMA, WAP.
