Cingular Acronyms and Definitions

From HowardForums Wiki

This list is here to help others with the forum and to know what things mean. If anyone has other acronyms that they want added, or definations they want included, please PM me with a defination of what is being added and I will include it.

I will finish this list shortly.

4G - fourth generation wireless. An emerging technology that promises to integrate different modes of wireless communications -- from indoor networks such as wireless local area networks (LANs) and Bluetooth, to cellular signals, to radio and TV broadcasting, to satellite communications. Although proponents of 4G vary in their approaches, most agree it will not be commercially available until about 2010.

ABI - American Business Information number. A designation assigned to specific business locations in a system separate from the Cingular billing systems. In the Business Markets Group (BMG), a unique 9-digit identifier assigned to each account location in the automated sales system. The ABI is assigned by infoUSA or Cingular when a new account is loaded into the database. Records originating from infoUSA show 'infoUSA' in the Source column and records originating from Cingular show 'CINGULAR' in the Source column. An account may have a Parent ABI (division headquarters location) and an Ultimate ABI (top level headquarters location). Also called American Business Indicator.

AGL - Above Ground Level. A measurement of antenna height and location, along with geographical coordinates and other information, often required by regulatory agencies

AMSL - Above mean sea level. A measurement of antenna height and location, along with geographical coordinates and other information, often required by regulatory agencies.

ARPU -(Average Revenue Per User) A calculation often used to determine the overall value of an application. It is also used to rate particular customers, especially in the wireless space, by comparing someone's account to the overall average.

B2B -(Business to Business) With regards to Cingular this is usually used to describe the departments and the way Cingular sells to other businesses to which they have a contract with.

CC -(Customer Care) This can also mean “Credit Card” is some discussion, but for the most part it is used to define Cingular’s customer care department.

CDA - (Corporate Digital Advantage) This is a term that was originated in the AT&T days, and could be described to mean something very similar to “B2B”. This term was basically used to define the difference between average retail pricing, and special discounted pricing that was offered to businesses and employees of these businesses to whom Cingular has a contract with.

CDMA - code division multiple access. A form of digital cellular phone service using a broadband digital technology in which the transmitter encodes the signal using a pseudo-random sequence the receiver also knows and can use to decode the received signal. Each different random sequence corresponds to a different communication channel. Also called spread spectrum. Contrast with time division multiple access (TDMA).

Churn - This sales term describes the cycle of acquiring new customers and losing others that characterizes consumer e-commerce and limits long-term customer value due to the ease of switching clientele. In so many words, the customers you lost in any given measurement of time.

Cingular Blue/Legacy Blue - This is used to describe the current Cingular customers that originally signed up service with AT&T. If you originally signed up with AT&T and you still have the same rate plan and phone, you are considered a “Cingular blue” customer

Cingular Orange - This term is used to describe customer who either originally signed up with Cingular, or were former customer who migrated over to Cingular rollover plans. Just because your phone displays “Cingular” and your bill says “Cingular” does not mean you are in the Orange environment. If your SIM card is blue or all white with an AT&T logo, you are a Cingular blue customer.

Cingular Premier - This is a website that is usually only accessible from an employer’s intranet site, or other private source. This site is set up to activate service and provide some upgrades to existing service at deep discounts that are usually over and above average consumer pricing and discounted B2B pricing. This site is usually customized to reflect that individual employers % off the bill, and other contracted discounts. Members also associate this term with being eligible for discounts based on their employer or student discounts (e.g Because of my employer I have a Cingular Permier account). While using the term in this way is techinaclly incorrect, it means the same as just being eligible for employer/student discounts.

CRU -(Corporate Responsible User) A service that is under the finical responsibility of the employer of the user or a business in general. The account is under a Federal TAX IS instead of a SS#.

CSD - Circuit Switched Data. Data transferred over a dedicated voice cellular channel. Intended for the transfer of large, extended files and batch jobs. CSD is part of Cingular's offering to support legacy dialup connections. However, for Commercial Connectivity Services (CCS), CSD does not route enterprise traffic through the enterprise access point name (e-APN).

EDGE - (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution). An upgrade for GSM/GPRS networks that triples data rates (speed) over standard GPRS.

EDGE is used automatically when both the phone and network support it. EDGE phones will automatically revert to the slower GPRS standard when EDGE service is not available.

Although many EDGE phones and devices are theoretically capable of up to 236 Kbps, most EDGE networks are only configured to allow up to 135 Kbps, to conserve spectrum resources. Real-world data rates are usually lower than the maximum.

Because it is based on existing GSM technology, EDGE is a smooth upgrade for GSM network operators. It also works within existing spectrum, making it ideal for countries without dedicated 3G spectrum, such as the US.

Although EDGE works at a low level within the GSM standard that includes voice, the main benefit is to increase GPRS data rates. GPRS operating over EDGE is called EGPRS.

ETF-(Early Termination Fee) This fee is usually anywhere from $150 to $200 depending on state laws and the time that you signed up your service. It is the penalty fee enforced by the carrier when the contract is ended early by the user either voluntarily or by nonpay.

FAN--(Foundation Account Number) This number originated in the AT&T environment and is still used today with Cingular. This number is generated when a contract is signed between a company and Cingular. It is used by Cingular employees to identify the details of a business contract, including discounts percentages, equipment and accessory discounts if applicable, and other special instructions related to the contract.

GPRS-(General Packet Radio Service)A packet-switched technology that enables data communications.

GPRS is used for various data applications on phones, including wireless Internet (WAP), MMS, and software that connects to the Internet. Basically, any network connection that is not voice or text messaging uses a data connection like GPRS.

GPRS offers a tenfold increase in data speed over previous (circuit-switched) technologies, up to 115kbit/s (in theory). Typical real-world speeds are around 30-40 Kbps.

Newer technologies like EDGE and 3G are much faster.

GSM-Global System for Mobile Communication. GSM is the dominant 2G digital mobile phone standard for most of the world. It determines the way in which mobile phones communicate with the land-based network of towers.

GSM is one of two major mobile phone technologies in the U.S. The other is CDMA. Cingular and T-Mobile use GSM. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA. GSM is more prevalent in most other parts of the world, and especially in Europe.

Although GSM and CDMA provide similar basic features and services to end-users, (such as voice calling, text messaging, and data services,) they operate very differently at many technical levels. This makes GSM phones completely incompatible with CDMA networks, and vice-versa.

The most visible feature of GSM are SIM cards. SIM cards are removable, thumbnail-sized smart cards which identify the user on the network, and can also store information such as phone book entries. SIM cards allows users to switch phones by simply moving their SIM card from one phone to the other.

HSDPA-(High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) An upgrade for WCDMA / UMTS networks. It doubles network capacity and increases download data speeds five-fold or more.While the technology is theoretically capable of downlink (download) data rates up to 8-10 Mbit/s (million bits per second), initial deployments and devices will be limited to 1.8 Mbit/s, followed by network upgrades and new devices capable of 3.6 Mbit/s. HSDPA is standardized by the 3GPP in UMTS Release 5.

iDEN- Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network.A technology developed by Motorola, the basis for Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio (ESMR). It combines two-way radio, telephone, text messaging, and data transmission onto one network. Nextel is the largest company deploying ESMR. The iDEN technology was formerly known as Motorola Integrated Radio System (MIRS).

IRU Individual Responsibility User. An end user who, although part of a business customer's account, pays the bill for the service used. May also be called a sponsorship employee.

IVR- (Interactive Voice Response) An automated telephone information system that speaks to the caller with a combination of fixed voice menus and data extracted from databases in realtime. The caller responds by pressing digits on the telephone or speaking words or short phrases. Applications include bank-by-phone, flight-scheduling information and automated order entry and tracking. This is used by Cingular to guide you when you call into customer care and warranty, and is also used for contract acceptance.

Legacy Orange-

LTV1 - Life Time Value - This is a coding system used internally by Cingular to measure a customer profitability over the term of the customers contract.

MAP- Minimum Advertised Pricing.

OIBDA - Operating income before depreciation and amortization. Formerly known as earnings before taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

PUK / PUC code-PUK is an abbreviation for the phrase personal unlocking key used in GSM mobile phones. Most mobiles offer the feature of personal identification number protection. After switching on the phone, the user is requested for security reasons to enter a 4-8 digit PIN enabling the phone's non-emergency calling functions. If the wrong code is typed in more than three times, either the SIM card, the mobile or both become permanently locked. They can however be reverted to their original unlocked state through entering of a PUK, but if the wrong PUK is entered ten times in a row, the device will become permanently locked and unrecoverable, requiring a new SIM card. Mobile users are therefore advised to keep their PUK written down in a safe place separate from the mobile.

SIM- - Subscriber Identity Module. A small, stamp-size "smart card" used in a GSM phone.

The SIM card contains a microchip that stores data that identifies the user to the carrier. The data is also used to encrypt voice and data transmissions, making it nearly impossible to listen in on calls.

The SIM can also store phone book information - phone numbers and associated names.

The SIM, typically located under the battery, can easily be removed and placed in another phone. This will cause the new phone to instantly operate using the subscriber's existing phone number and account.

CDMA, TDMA, and AMPS (analog) phones generally do not use SIM cards. The information is instead programmed directly into the phone. However, some CDMA phones for China and Latin America use a very similar type of card called R-UIM. SPON

TDMA- (Time Division Multiple Access) A satellite and cellular phone technology that interleaves multiple digital signals onto a single high-speed channel. For cellular, TDMA triples the capacity of the original analog method (FDMA). It divides each channel into three subchannels providing service to three users instead of one. The GSM cellular system is also based on TDMA, but GSM defines the entire network, not just the air interface. Both Cingular and AT&T Wireless used this technology before lauching GSM.

UMTS- (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) The European implementation of the 3G wireless phone system. UMTS, which is part of IMT-2000, provides service in the 2GHz band and offers global roaming and personalized features. Designed as an evolutionary system for GSM network operators, multimedia data rates up to 2 Mbps are expected using WCDMA. In the interim, GPRS and EDGE are 2.5G technologies that speed up wireless data for GSM users. Cingular as of 2-4-06 has UMTS service in 16 cities.

WAP Wireless Application Protocol. An open, worldwide standard enabling mobile data applications on a variety of platforms. It enables independent access to the Internet and advanced telephony services by specifying application and communication protocols for wireless devices.

WCDMA-(Wideband CDMA) A 3G technology that increases data transmission rates in GSM systems by using the CDMA air interface instead of TDMA. In the ITU's IMT-2000 3G specification, WCDMA has become known as the Direct Sequence (DS) mode. See GSM, CDMA2000, wireless generations, HSDPA and AMR.

WSCA- Western States Contracting Alliance. A group formed in October 1993 by the state purchasing directors from 15 National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) western states. Participating states join together in cooperative multi-State contracting in order to achieve cost-effective and efficient acquisition of quality products and services. Cooperative purchases are developed by member states.

XBM- A term used to describe "exchange by mail" which is Cingular's warranty process.

sources: phonescoop, wikipedia, answers.com, google, and myself.

Written by .7