Wireless and mobile

Terms related to wireless and mobile technology, including definitions about consumer mobile technology devices and communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE.

1xRTT (Single-Carrier Radio Transmission Technology) - 1xRTT (Single-Carrier Radio Transmission Technology) is an operational mode for CDMA2000 wireless communications that specifies a single (1x) 1.
2D barcode (two-dimensional barcode) - A 2D (two-dimensional) barcode is a graphical image that stores information horizontally as one-dimensional barcodes do, as well as vertically.
3G (third generation of mobile telephony) - 3G refers to the third generation of cellular technology that enables mobile telephony.
3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) - The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaborative project between a group of telecommunications associations with the initial goal of developing globally applicable specifications for third-generation (3G) mobile systems.
4G (fourth-generation wireless) - 4G is the short name for fourth-generation wireless, the stage of broadband mobile communications that supersedes 3G (third-generation wireless) and is the predecessor of 5G (fifth-generation wireless).
5G - Fifth-generation wireless (5G) is the latest iteration of cellular technology.
5G New Radio (NR) - 5G New Radio, or 5G NR, is a set of standards that replace the fourth-generation wireless (4G) LTE network communications standard.
5G standalone (5G SA) - 5G standalone (5G SA) is a cellular infrastructure built specifically for 5G services by implementing 5G standards and protocols in the radio network and controller core.
802.11 - 802.11 is a family of evolving specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs) developed and maintained by a working group of IEEE.
802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) - 802.11ac, also known as Gigabit Wi-Fi, is a specification in the IEEE 802.
802.11n - 802.11n is an IEEE standard for wireless networking that boosts the speed, dependability and range of wireless transmissions in wireless local area networks (WLANs).
A2P messaging (application to person messaging) - A2P messaging (application to person messaging), also known as enterprise or business SMS, is a type of SMS messaging technique where a text is sent from a software application run by an enterprise to a consumer's device.
access network - Access networks are the communication networks that connect end-user devices, such as computers, smartphones and tablets, to a wide area network (WAN), such as the internet.
airplane mode - Airplane mode is a setting on cell phones, smartphones and other mobile communication devices that prevents the device from sending or receiving calls and text messages.
Android Factory Reset - Android Factory Reset is a feature that erases all device settings, user data, third-party applications, and associated application data from an Android device’s internal flash storage to return the device to the condition it was in when shipped from the factory.
Android Open Source Project (AOSP) - The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is the repository of source code and the foundation which maintains it that is responsible for the core of the Android operating system.
Android Oreo - Android 8.0 Oreo is the eighth major update to the Android operating system that contains new features and enhancements for application developers.
Android OS - Android OS is a Linux-based mobile operating system that primarily runs on smartphones and tablets.
Android System WebView - Android System WebView is a system component for the Android operating system (OS) that allows Android apps to display web content directly inside an application.
antenna - An antenna is a specialized transducer that converts electric current into electromagnetic (EM) waves or vice versa.
app store (application store) - An app store (application store) is an online portal through which software programs are made available for procurement and download.
app wrapping (application wrapping) - App wrapping (application wrapping) is applying a management layer to an existing mobile app.
Apple - Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer Inc.
Apple 3D Touch - Apple 3D Touch was a hardware-based feature Apple introduced in iPhone 6s and 6s Plus devices running iOS 9 that perceives the amount of force a user puts on the touchscreen to activate different functions.
Apple Authorized Service Provider (Apple AASP) - An Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) is a business that provides repair services for Apple products.
Apple Automated Device Enrollment - The Apple Automated Device Enrollment program, formerly known as the Device Enrollment Program (DEP), is a device enrollment service that's included with Apple Business Manager (ABM) and Apple School Manager (ASM).
Apple Business Manager - Apple Business Manager (ABM) is an online portal for IT administrators who deploy Mac OS, iOS and tvOS devices in an enterprise or educational setting.
Apple Push Notification service (APNs) - Apple Push Notification service (APNs) is a cloud service that allows approved third-party apps installed on Apple devices to send push notifications from a remote server to users over a secure connection.
Apple Watch - Apple Watch is a wearable smartwatch that allows users to accomplish a variety of tasks, including making phone calls, sending text messages and reading email.
Apple watchOS (Apple Watch operating system) - Apple watchOS is the operating system (OS) designed specifically for the Apple Watch wearable device, with features that take advantage of the smaller screen and location of the device on the user's wrist.
application sandboxing - Application sandboxing, also called application containerization, is an approach to software development and management and mobile application management (MAM) that limits the environments in which certain code can execute.
augmented reality (AR) - Augmented reality (AR) is the integration of digital information with the user's environment in real time.
autocorrect - Autocorrect is a word processing feature that identifies misspelled words, and uses algorithms to identify the words most likely to have been intended, and edits the text accordingly.
Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) - Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) is a broad set of technologies used to collect information from an object, image or sound without manual data entry.
bandwidth (network bandwidth) - Network bandwidth is a measurement indicating the maximum capacity of a wired or wireless communications link to transmit data over a network connection in a given amount of time.
base station - In telecommunications, a base station is a fixed transceiver that is the main communication point for one or more wireless mobile client devices.
battery memory effect - The battery memory effect is a reduction in the longevity of a rechargeable battery's charge, due to incomplete discharge in previous uses.
beamforming - Beamforming is a type of radio frequency (RF) management in which a wireless signal is directed toward a specific receiving device.
bezel - A bezel is the border between the screen and frame of a computer monitor, smartphone or any other computing device.
bluesnarfing - Bluesnarfing is a hacking technique in which a hacker accesses a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection.
Bluetooth - Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that describes how mobile devices, computers and other devices can easily communicate with each other using a short-range wireless connection.
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR - Bluetooth 2.
Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) - Also marketed as Bluetooth Smart, Bluetooth LE was introduced in the Bluetooth 4.
bone conduction headphones - Bone conduction headphones -- sometimes called 'bonephones'-- are headphones that transmit sound waves through the bones in a user's skull instead of their ear canal.
burner phone - A burner phone, or 'burner,' is an inexpensive mobile phone designed for temporary, sometimes anonymous, use, after which it may be discarded.
BYOD (bring your own device) - BYOD (bring your own device) is a policy that enables employees in an organization to use their personally owned devices for work-related activities.
capacitive touchscreen - A capacitive touchscreen is a control display that uses the conductive touch of a human finger or a specialized input device for input and control.
captive portal - A captive portal is a webpage that the user of a public-access network is required to view and interact with before they can access the network.
CAPWAP (Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points) - CAPWAP (Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points) is a protocol that enables an access controller to manage a collection of wireless termination points.
carrier-to-noise ratio - In communications, the carrier-to-noise ratio, often written as CNR or C/N, is a measure of the received carrier strength relative to the strength of the received noise.
CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) - Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS, is the set of operational rules given to a slice of the shared wireless spectrum and the technologies used in that spectrum.
CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) - CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) refers to any of several protocols used in second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) wireless communications.
Chromecast - Chromecast is a streaming media adapter from Google that allows users to play online content such as videos and music on a digital television.
churn rate - Churn rate is a measure of the number of customers or employees who leave a company during a given period.
circuit - In electronics, a circuit is a complete circular path that electricity flows through.
cloud radio access network (C-RAN) - Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is a centralized, cloud computing-based architecture for radio access networks.
coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) - Coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) is a telecommunications modulation scheme that divides a single digital signal across 1,000 or more signal carriers simultaneously.
coexistence testing - Coexistence testing, similar to compatibility testing, is a method of measuring the ability of multiple devices to interact in a single environment with limited bandwidth.
cognitive radio (CR) - Cognitive radio (CR) is a form of wireless communication in which a transceiver can intelligently detect which communication channels are in use and which ones are not.
common short code (CSC) - Common short codes (CSC) are short telephone numbers, usually consisting of five digits, that are used to address SMS and MMS messages from cellular telephones.
contactless payment - A contactless payment is a wireless financial transaction in which the customer makes a purchase by moving a security token in close proximity to the vendor's point of sale (POS) reader.
COPE (corporate-owned, personally enabled) - COPE (corporate-owned personally-enabled) is a business model in which an organization provides its employees with mobile computing devices and allows the employees to use them as if they were personally-owned notebook computers, tablets or smartphones.
Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) - Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) is an encryption protocol based on the U.
CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) - CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) is a specification for wireless communication networks that defines the key criteria for interfacing transport, connectivity and control communications between baseband units (BBUs) and remote radio units (RRUs), which are also called remote radio heads (RRHs).
cross-platform mobile development - Cross-platform mobile development is an approach to developing software applications that are compatible with multiple mobile operating systems (OSes) or platforms.
CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) - CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) is a protocol for carrier transmission in 802.
customer proprietary network information (CPNI) - Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) in the United States is information that telecommunications services -- such as local, long-distance and wireless telephone companies -- acquire about their subscribers.
CYOD (choose your own device) - CYOD (choose your own device) is an employee provisioning model in which an organization allows people to select the mobile devices they would like, usually from a limited number of options.
data cap (broadband cap) - A data cap is a specific amount of mobile data that a user account can access for a given amount of money, usually specified per month.
data plan (mobile data plan) - Since the advent of the smartphone made mobile Internet possible, most carriers offer data plans at varying rates based on the amount of data transfer allowed before a data cap is imposed.
device ID (device identification) - A device ID (device identification) is an anonymous string of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies a mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or smartwatch.
device-agnostic (device agnosticism) - Device agnosticism, or device-agnostic, is the capacity of a computing component to work with various systems without requiring any particular adaptations.
digital tattoo - With more than one meaning, a digital tattoo is to a temporary tattoo that is outfitted with electronics, such as sensors or a near field communication (NFC) chip.
digital wallet - In general, a digital wallet is a software application, usually for a smartphone, that serves as an electronic version of a physical wallet.
digital wellness (digital wellbeing) - Digital wellness (digital wellbeing) is the use of technology to ensure an employee's physical and mental health.
discontinuous transmission (DTX) - Discontinuous transmission (DTX) is a method of momentarily powering-down, or muting, a mobile or portable wireless telephone set when there is no voice input to the set.
disposable phone number - A disposable phone number is a virtual phone number that is usable temporarily.
disruptive innovation - Disruptive innovation is the idea that when a product or service is introduced into an established industry and performs better and/or costs less than existing offerings, it can displace the market leaders and even transform the industry.
distributed antenna system (DAS) - In a distributed antenna system (DAS), a single signal source is connected to a group of antennas instead of to a single antenna.
driver assistance - Driver assistance, also known as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), are technologies used to make motor vehicle travel safer by automating, improving or adapting some or all of the tasks involved in operating a vehicle.
dual SIM phone - A dual SIM phone is a mobile phone, typically a smartphone, with the capacity to use two subscriber identity module (SIM) cards.
dual Wi-Fi antenna - A dual Wi-Fi antenna is a pair of identical antennas on a wireless router or Wi-Fi-equipped device, intended to eliminate signal fading and dead spots.
dumbphone (dumb phone) - A dumbphone (also seen as dumb phone) is a mobile telephone that, unlike a smartphone, has little-to-no computing or internet capacity.
E911 (Enhanced 911) - In the United States, E911 (Enhanced 91 is support for wireless phone users who dial 911, the standard number for requesting help in an emergency.
edge device - An edge device is any piece of hardware that controls data flow at the boundary between two networks.
electric vehicle charging station - An electric vehicle charging station is equipment that connects an EV to a source of electricity to recharge electric cars, neighborhood electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
electrostatic field - When two objects in each other's vicinity have different electrical charges, an electrostatic field exists between them.
embedded device - An embedded device is part of a larger computing system and has a specific purpose.
enterprise mobility management (EMM) - Enterprise mobility management (EMM) is software that allows organizations to securely enable employee use of mobile devices and applications.
ephemeral messaging - Ephemeral messaging is the mobile-to-mobile transmission of multimedia messages that automatically disappear from the recipient's screen after the message has been viewed.
evil twin attack - An evil twin attack is a rogue Wi-Fi access point (AP) that masquerades as a legitimate one, enabling an attacker to gain access to sensitive information without the end user's knowledge.
Evolved Packet Core (EPC) - Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is a framework for providing converged voice and data services on a 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network.
Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) - The Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) is a protocol for wireless networks that expands the authentication methods used by the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), a protocol often used when connecting a computer to the internet.
Facebook Messenger - Facebook Messenger is a mobile app that enables chat, voice and video communications between Facebook web-based messaging and smartphones.
FaceTime - FaceTime is a proprietary video and audio calling service developed by Apple Inc.
field of view (FOV) - Field of view (FOV) is the open, observable area a person can see through their eyes or via an optical device, such as a camera.
field-effect transistor (FET) - A field-effect transistor (FET) is a type of transistor commonly used for weak-signal amplification (for example, for amplifying wireless signals).
Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) - Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), formerly called Google Cloud Messaging (GCM), is a free cloud service from Google that allows app developers to send notifications and messages to users across a variety of platforms, including Android, iOS and web applications.
fixed wireless - Fixed wireless networking refers to the operation of wireless devices in fixed locations such as homes and offices.
fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) - Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) is the trend towards seamless connectivity between fixed and wireless telecommunications networks.