The Cellular Digital Packet Data Wireless Network

The Cellular Digital Packet Data or CDCP is one of the best kind wireless network that operates today. This type of network utilizes unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones that are between 800 and 900 MHz to transfer data. This means that the CDCP can achieve speeds of up to 19.2 kbit/s.



A Brief History

The Cellular Digital Packet Data wireless network was considered a great leap in technology when it was developed in the early part of the 1990s. Unfortunately, the existing wireless networks during that period proved to be a daunting hindrance. These established systems were slower but they were less expensive and CDPD was unable to gain widespread acceptance before newer, faster standards became the norm. Another thing going against CDPD was that it had very limited consumer offerings.

This revolutionary technology was in fact first offered by AT&T Wireless under the PocketNet brand in the United States. It was one of the first consumer offerings of wireless web service. However, PocketNet was generally considered a dismal failure. Competition from 2G services such as Sprint's Wireless Web proved to be too much. AT&T Wireless eventually refused to activate the devices after the company offered four phones to the public.

Things continued to become worst for Cellular Digital Packet Data when major carriers in the United States threatened to shut down CDPD service in 2004. In July 2005, the AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless CDPD networks were shut down.


Comparison with other Technologies:

Compared with other Wireless networks Cellular Digital Packet Data is superior to Specialized Mobile Radio, and Proprietary Wireless Data Networks in terms of speed. Only Circuit Switched Cellular can equal CDCP technology when it comes to speed.

When it comes to security, Specialized Mobile Radio, Proprietary Wireless Data Networks and Circuit Switched Cellular cannot match the security provided by CDCP technology. Cellular Digital Packet Data is also the leader when it comes to ubiquity.

In the area of cost of service and cost of deployment, Specialized Mobile Radio, Proprietary Wireless Data Networks and Circuit Switched Cellular are also inferior to the more affordable Cellular Digital Packet Data wireless network.

The innovative CDCP wireless type of network is also superior in the mobility and interoperability than Specialized Mobile Radio, Proprietary Wireless Data Networks and Circuit Switched Cellular. All these information has lead me to wonder why this technology failed when it has superior attributes than the competition.

Key Players

These are some of the key players that have been involved in the Cellular Digital Packet Data market:

Ameritech Cellular

AT&T Wireless Services

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile

GTE Mobilnet (PCSI)

Hughes Network Systems

Motorola, Inc.

Pacific Communications Sciences, Inc.

Sierra Wireless, Inc