Personal Communications Service
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Personal Communications Service or PCS is the name for the 1900 MHz radio band used for digital mobile phone services in Canada and the United States. CDMA, GSM, and TDMA systems can all be used on PCS frequencies. The FCC, as well as Industry Canada, set aside the band of 1850-1990 MHz for mobile phone use in 1994, as the original cellular phone band at 824-849 MHz was becoming overcrowded. Dual-band phones are capable of working in both the 800 and 1900 MHz bands, although they are incompatible with 900 and 1800 MHz European systems. However, "world phones" (some of which are known as "tri-band" phones, because they operate in three different frequencies) offered by many GSM-based American carriers support both European and domestic frequencies. In Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, however, PCS is used to refer to GSM-1800.
External link
- GSM World (http://www.gsmworld.com/)
- FCC: Broadband PCS (http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/broadbandpcs/)