Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications

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What Does Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications Mean?

Digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) is a digital wireless technology for telephony that is used both for home and business. Unlike analog cordless phones, which have a very limited range, DECT phones can operate on a longer range.

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The DECT standard was created by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in the late 1980s. The standard was created to offer a more economical alternative to the existing wireless and cordless solutions through a secure digital protocol.

Two components make up a DECT system: a mobile handset and a base station called a radio fixed part, which is connected to a telephone network.

Techopedia Explains Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications

DECT started out as Digital European Cordless Telephony. Its name had to be changed, however, when its use spread globally.

The DECT system accesses a fixed network using radio waves. It uses time division multiple access (TDMA) and time division duplex technologies, which typically use 10 radio frequency channels between 1880 to 1930 MHz.

DECT may also provide more than voice communications as it can be used to transmit data using DECT packet radio service (DPRS) and multimedia access profile (MMAP). This allows the system to be used as a wireless LAN and for wireless Internet access. Furthermore, DECT’s services are compatible with the Global System for Wireless Communications (GSM) and the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). ]

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.