Cellular digital packet data
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Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) uses unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones between 800 and 900 MHz to transfer data. Speeds up to 19.2 kbit/s are possible.
Developed in the early 1990s, CDPD was large on the horizon as a future technology. However, it had difficulty competing against existing slower but less expensive Mobitex and DataTac systems, and never quite gained widespread acceptance before newer, faster standards such as GPRS became dominant.
CDPD had very limited consumer offerings. AT&T Wireless first offered the technology in the United States under the PocketNet brand. It was one of the first consumer offerings of wireless web service. Cingular Wireless later offered CDPD under the Wireless Internet brand (not to be confused with Wireless Internet Express, their brand for GPRS/EDGE data). PocketNet was generally considered a failure with competition from 2G services such as Sprint's Wireless Web. After the three phones AT&T Wireless had offered to the public (two from Panasonic, one from Mitsubishi and the Ericsson R289LX), AT&T Wireless eventually refused to activate the devices.
As of the year 2004, major carriers in the United States are threatening to shut down CDPD service. As of July 2005, the former AT&T Wireless CDPD network is no longer active, and Cingular Wireless CDPD customers have been informed that as of the end of the year, it will be down as well.
