What is PCS and how does it differ from Digital?
The term PCS (which stands for Personal Communications Service) was invented by the FCC in the United States. Officially it refers to any digital communications service operating on 1900 Mhz. This is confusing, since if we took the same technology and deployed it at a different frequency, it would cease to be a PCS service in the eyes of the FCC. Once cellular marketing people got their hands on the term however, they modified it to mean any digital service offered at any frequency. This makes a lot more sense, and it is probably what most people think of when they hear the term. The bottom line is, there is no difference between the term Digital and the term PCS. They apply equally to all four major technologies (other than analog) available today. This includes GSM, IS-136 (AKA TDMA), IS-95 (AKA CDMA), and iDEN. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing that PCS is more advanced than Digital Cellular, because that’s just a lot of hot air.
