WiDEN
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Template:Table Mobile phone standards
Wideband Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network, or WiDEN, is a software upgrade developed by Motorola for its iDEN enhanced specialised mobile radio (or ESMR) wireless telephony protocol. WiDEN allows compatible subscriber units to communicate across four 25 kHz channels combined, for up to 100 kbit/s of bandwidth. The protocol is generally considered a 2.5G wireless cellular technology.
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WiDEN History
iDEN, the platform which WiDEN upgrades, and the protocol on which it is based, was originally introduced by Motorola in 1993, and launched as a commercial network by Nextel in the United States in September 1996.
WiDEN was originally anticipated to be a major stepping stone for United States wireless telephone provider Nextel Communications and its affiliate, Nextel Partners. However, with the December 2004 announcement of the proposed Sprint Nextel merger, it has been speculated that the Nextel iDEN network will be quickly abandoned in favour of Sprint's CDMA network. Although a complete roadmap of the merger's impact on the combined company's wireless networks has not been released, Nextel and Motorola have agreed to continue to maintain and expand the iDEN (and WiDEN) network through, at least, 2007 December 31.
WiDEN Subscriber Units
The first WiDEN-compatible device to be released is the the Motorola iM240 (http://www.nextel.com/en/solutions/wireless_modems/im240.shtml) PCMCIA card which allows raw data speeds of up to 40 kbit/s. The first WiDEN-compatible telephone is expected to be the Motorola i930, which is scheduled for release in June 2005.
iDEN Networks
Fifteen commercial iDEN networks exist in thirteen countries.
- Argentina - Nextel Comunicaciones and Movistar (Telefónica Móviles))
- Brazil - Nextel Telecomunicações
- Canada - Mike (Telus Mobility)
- China - Sinolink, (Fujian TrunkingRadio Telephone Co.)
- Colombia - Avantel
- Israel - Amigo, (MIRS Communications Ltd.)
- Japan - NEXNET
- Mexico - Nextel de Mexico
- Peru - Nextel del Peru
- Philippines - IMX, (Next Mobile)
- Singapore - GRID, (DNA Communications Pte Ltd)
- South Korea - Korea Telecom Powertel
- United States - Nextel Communications and Nextel Partners, and SouthernLINC, (Southern Company)
Capitalisation and Pronunciation
Motorola originally referred to the platform as wiDEN, choosing to capitalise only the letters representing "Dispatch Enhanced Network," as it had with iDEN. However, subsequent promotion from Motorola and Nextel has indicated that the preferred capitilisation is WiDEN.
The term has been pronounced, commonly, as a close combination to the words "why" and "den", or simply as the word "widen". The former is closer to the original pronunciation of iDEN, as "eye" and "den".
See Also
External Links
WiDEN Coverage Map from Nextel (http://www.nextel.com/widen/widen_coveragemap.html) Mike Coverage Map from Telus Mobility (http://telusmobility.com/on/coverage/mike_home.shtml)