An acronym for Personal Communication Service, this is one of several US standards for digital and wireless telephones. Set to operate at 1900MHz, a variety of services is possible, including pageing, voice mail and more.
Next to standard cell connections which operate at 800MHz, this connection offers significantly better battery life, less interference and improved security against 3rd party interference and spying.
Technipages Explains PCS
There are several standards for communication in the US – the two most important ones for cellular telephony are TDMA and CDMA. For PCS services, these standards also apply, and it is generally referred to as digital cellular service.
From a technical standpoint, it’s superior to traditional cell services since it offers several technical advantages. It does however require more service provider infrastructure and covering a larger area is therefore more challenging for providers. Some services like wireless radio and texting are readily available via PCS, while other services aren’t yet.
An example of the superiority of this service – where a regular service offers, say 14.4Kbps download speed, a specialised PCS connection could allow for about 384 Kbps – a huge difference! There are three general categories for PCS connections – narrowband, broadband and unlicensed.
There is a good chance that your cellphone provider already uses one of the technologies that are used to make PCS available – 3G and 4G as well as the aforementioned TDMA and CDMA.
Common Uses of PCS
- Some satellite communication networks take advantage of the improved services PCS offer.
- Personal Communications Services made a huge difference in connection speeds and quality when originally introduced.
- Following US standards, other areas in the world adapted the same PCS services with their own standards to match.
Common Misuses of PCS
- PCs are personal computers.