Mobitex
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Mobitex is an OSI based open standard, national public access wireless data network first introduced in Canada in 1990 by Rogers Cantel, and in 1991 by carrier RAM Mobile Data. Developed by Ericsson, Mobitex puts great emphasis on safety and reliability with its use by military, police, firefighters and ambulance services. In the mid-1990s Mobitex gained consumer popularity by providing two-way paging network services. It was the first wireless network to provide always on, wireless push email services such as RadioMail and Inter@ctive Paging. It is also used by the first model of Research in Motion's BlackBerry, and PDAs such as the Palm VII. During 9/11 and the 2005 hurricane rescue and clean-up operations, Mobitex proved itself to be a very reliable and useful system for first responders.
Mobitex is a packet-switched, narrowband, data-only technology mainly for short burst data. Mobitex channels are 12.5 kHz wide. In North America, Mobitex runs at 900 MHz, while in Europe it used 400-450 MHz. The modulation scheme used is GMSK with a slotted aloha protocol at 8000 bits/s, although user throughput is typically around half of that.
The network provided the first public access wireless data communication services in North America. Subscriber services included electronic messaging with Cc capabilities to multiple recipients, combined with the ability to log on to any wireless or fixed terminal and receive stored mailbox messages.
Mobitex is offered on over 30 networks on five continents. However, as of 2005, it is primarily used in the USA and Canada. European Mobitex networks almost completely withered in the shadow of the overwhelming success of GSM there in the early 1990s. An exception to this are the Mobitex networks used in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.
Mobitex networks in North America have been marketed under several names, including RAM Mobile Data, BellSouth Wireless Data, Cingular Interactive, Cingular Wireless and Velocita Wireless (now part of the Sprint Nextel group), and Rogers Wireless in Canada.
Mobitex is now marketed world-wide by Mobitex Technology.
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