PAC PPTP Access Concentrator. Concentrates PPP traffic on a dial access platform. See PNS
mobiles attempting to originate a call in order of priority, rather than first-come, first-served. See PAS
Packet data Data transmitted from multiple users in individually address discrete packets. Compare with CSD
PACS Personal Access Communications System PAD Packet Assembly/Disassembly
Page The process of telling an MS to prepare for an incoming call
PAMR Public Access Mobile Radio. A wide-area form of PMR that provides group-oriented communications (such as PTT) to the public, rather than being run for a single organization. See SMR.
PAN Personal Area Network. A network that connects personal devices, such as computer, keyboard, mouse, phone and monitor. Also known as Piconet
PANID Previous ANI
PAP Password Authentication Protocol. A simple authentication protocol that sends security information in the clear. Compare with CHAP Parlay/OSA Open Service Access/Architecture. An API that enables operator and
3rd party applications to make use of network functionality through a set of open, standardised interfaces. Implementations are JAIN SPA, OMG-IDL and WSDL
PAS Priority Access Service. See PACA PBCCH GPRS Packet Broadcast CCH
PBX Private Branch Exchange. A privately owned switch providing wired and possibly also wireless service for an office, factory, campus, etc. PC Personal Computer
PCAP UTRAN Positioning Calculation Application Part PCCCH GPRS Packet Control Channel
PCF Packet Control Function. Obsolete. See PDF PCG 3GPP Project Coordination Group
PCH Paging Channel
PCI Protocol Capability Indicator
PCIA Personal Communications Industry Association. Rival trade association to CTIA
PCM Pulse Code Modulation
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association PCN Personal Communications Network. See PCS
PCS Personal Communications System. See DCS, PCS1900 PCS1900 North American PCS frequencies, 1850-1990 MHz. See DCS PCSC Personal Communications Switching Center. See MSC PD Packet data
PDA Personal Digital Assistant
PDC Pacific Digital Cellular. A Japanese cellular standard based on GSM operating in the 800 MHz and 1500 MHz frequency bands.
PDC-P PDC Packet network used
PDCP UTRA Packet Data Convergence Protocol
PDD Post-Dial Delay. The delay between dialing and having the call cut through to the party at the other end
PDE Position Determining Entity PDF Policy Decision Function PDG PD Gateway. Similar to PDSN. PDH Plesiochhronous Digital Hierarchy
PDLP PD link protocol
PDN Public Data Network or Packet Data Network
PDP PD Protocol
PDREG Power-Down Registration
PDSN Packet Data Serving Node. Not to be confused with PSDN PDU Protocol Data Unit
PEAP Protected EAP. A more secure version of LEAP developed by Microsoft and Cisco.
pen register A form of surveillance where dialed digits and time of call are collected Penetration The percentage of the population of a service area (POP) that have
acquired a certain service
PER(1) Packed Encoding Rules. Avoids the TLV overhead of BER and TCAP PER(2) Packet Error Rate. The fraction of packets that have one or more errors.
Compare with BER.
pESN Pseudo ESN. Formed as a SHA-1 extract of the MEID. See also tESN. Peta Prefix to indicate one thousand trillion (e.g. Peta-bit). Abbreviated P PH Packet Handler
PHB Per-Hop Behaviour
PHS Personal Handyphone Service. A real success until people found that it was not true cellular service
PI Polling Indicator
PIC(1) Preferred Inter-exchange Carrier Code. Identifies the long distance carrier for a subscriber. Generally national in scope
PIC(2) Point in Call. An IN, WIN, CAMEL term Piconet See PAN
PIN Personal Identification Number. Used to restrict access to personal services or capabilities
PISN Private Integrated Services Network. Composed of inter-connected PBXs.
PKC Public Key Cryptography. Also known as Asymmetric Key Cryptography
PKCS PKC System
PKE Public Key Encryption PKI Public Key Infrastructure PL Physical Layer
Plaintext Unencrypted data. Compare with Ciphertext
PLCM CDMA Private Long Code Mask. A code, derived from the MSs ESN that encrypts voice communications.
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network. A cellular, PCS or 3G wireless network PM(1) Privacy Mode
PM(2) Personal Mobility
PMN Public Mobile Network. Synonym for PLMN
PMR Professional/Private Mobile Radio. A radio system established to service a single organization or group of related organizations. They usually provide special group communications capabilities, such as PTT. See SMR. Contrast with PAMR
PN(1) Pseudo-Noise. Orthogonal code used to separate CDMA transmissions PN(2) Project number
PN Sequence A defined repetitive sequence of binary bits, typically quite long. PN sequences are often used to test digital communications systems because they are composed of typical data patterns (as opposed to, say, alternating 1s and 0s) but are nonetheless defined bit-by-bit, so that the correctness of received bits can be determined at the receiver. PN sequences are also used extensively in the channel structure of many wireless technologies such as CDMA.
PNA Presence Network Agent
PNG Portable Network Graphics. A web graphics format using lossless compression (and decompression) and 48 bit color (unlike JPEG). Its proponents believe that it will also replace GIF and TIFF.
PNP Private Numbering Plan
PNS PPTP Network Server. See PAC
PoC Push/Press-to-Talk over Cellular. Refers to systems running over standard cellular systems that emulate the push-to-talk system of iDen and similar systems. See PTT.
POCSAG A paging protocol that runs at 512 or 2400 bps. Compare with FLEX, ReFLEX.
POI Point of Interconnect
bits in most other countries
Pooling The ability to share a block of 10,000 NANP phone numbers between carriers. See ITN and Thousands block pooling
POP(1) Population of a service area. Licenses are often valued based on this POP(2) Point of Presence. A place where a carrier provides connectivity to its
network
POP3 Post Office Protocol Version 3. IETF RFC 1939
Port-in The porting of a number from the perspective of the new service provider. See LNP and WNP
Port-out The porting of a number from the perspective of the old service provider. See LNP and WNP
Portable Block A block of 10,000 NANP directory numbers that contains at least one Ported DN
Portal A fancy name for a web page that provides a single point of entry for a suite of web services
Ported DN A DN that has been ported from one carrier to another. See LNP and WNP
POS(2) Packet over SDH
POS (1) Personal Operating Space. A space about a person or object about 10 meters in radius that envelopes the person. See WPAN
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service (incoming and outgoing calls, but no fancy features)
PPDN Public PDN
PPDR Public Protection and Disaster Relief PPDU Presentation PDU
PPP(1) Point-to-Point Protocol. IETF RFC 1661. Provides a reliable link to the internet over a single-user facility (e.g. phone line) that can carry several network protocols simultaneously. See PPP, PAP, CHAP PPP(2) Peripheral Pre-Processor
PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol. Allows PPP to be tunneled through an IP network. Uses an enhanced GRE mechanism for flowcontrol and congestion control. Defined in RFC 2637. May be replaced by L2TP PQoS Position QoS. The desired/required/measured quality of position
measuring accuracy and delay
PRACK IETF SIP Provisional Acknowledgement message PRAMP Power Ramp
PRBS Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence PRC(1) Premium Rate Charging
PRC(2) Primary Reference Clock PRC(3) People’s Republic of China
Technical challenges limit the services available, such as roaming and international calling
PRI Primary Rate Interface (1.544 Mbps). See T1, DS1 Private long
code mask
Used for encrypting TIA/EIA-95 conversations. Based on secret key information
PRL CDMA Preferred Roaming List. A database within an MS that
prioritizes the systems that the mobile might encounter while roaming. PRN Provide Roaming Number
Protocol A specification of the messages used to communicate over one or more Interface
PS(1) Packet Switch(ed)
PS(2) Priority Service. See WPS, PACA PS(3) Positioning Server.
PSAP Public Service Answering Point. The place where 9-1-1 calls are answered
PSD Power Spectral Density
PSDC WAG Persistent Storage Drafting Committee. A WAP Working Group PSDN Packet/Public Switched Data Network. Not be be confused with PDSN
PSI PCF Session ID
PSID Private SID. Used to identify a virtual private wireless system (e.g. wireless PBX)
PSK(1) Phase Shift Keying. Information bits are identified by changes in phase of the carrier. Usually, the signal is split into two parts. I is unchanged, and Q is phase shifted by 90 degrees. Phase can be controlled by the amount of each path that is remixed upon output
PSK(2) Pre-Shared Key.
PSMM Pilot Signal Strength Message. Used for CDMA triangulation PSN Packet Switched Network
PSPDN Packet Switched PDN
PSS 3GPP Packet Streaming Service.
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network. The 'phone system'. PSVT Packet-Switched Video Telephony
PTM Point-to-Multipoint (Broadcast) PTP Point-to-Point
PTT Push To Talk. Pressing a button on a phone initiates communications with a pre-defined group of other users. The system will usually give one radio the ability to transmit, and the remainder can only listen until the button is released or the phone exceeds the maximum time limit on the right to talk.
Public long code mask
Used for encrypting TIA/EIA-95 conversations. Based on the ESN of an MS
PUREG Power-Up Registration PV Protocol Version PVC Permanent VC
PVI PV Indicator
PZID Packet Zone ID
Q
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. A method of encoding a digital symbol in an analog symbol using combinations of phase and amplitude that are modulated at right angles to the main carrier. See 8QAM, 16QAM, 32QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM