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What is DECT? Why Should I Care? 

I am going to attempt to explain DECT through application. It is a complicated subject but my hope is that through application it may make grasping it a little simpler.

First a quick contrast between our current cell phone technology (GSM) and DECT: GSM is optimized for mobile trips over big areas, DECT is intended particularly for a smaller area with a great number of users, such as those in cities and business complexes. A user can have a telephone that supports both GSM and DECT (popularly known as a dual-mode phone) and they can work seamlessly.

Now let’s look at the applications of the DECT technology:

A business can hook up to a wired telephone company and reallocate signals by radio antenna to a great number of telephone units inside the business, each with their own phone number. This is called a cordless PBX (private branch exchange). A cordless PBX would be particularly valuable and lower costs in a business with a number of mobile employees like those employees who work in a large warehouse.

Users in a locality normally serviced by a landline or wired telephone company can be linked as an alternative by a cordless phone that exchanges signals with a neighborhood antenna. A standard telephone, computer modem or fax machine is basically plugged into a fixed access unit (FAU), which contains a transceiver ( a device that transforms the radio signal back to the normal telephone wire signal). This is called Wireless Local Loop. The Wireless Local Loop can be installed in an urban area where many users share the same antenna.

The configuration utilized by businesses for a cordless PBX can also be used by a service that provided cordless phone subscriptions (numbers) for individual subscribers. Generally, the mobility would be lower than that obtainable by GSM technology. This is called Cordless Terminal Mobility.

A homeowner could install a single-cell antenna within the house and utilize it for a number of cordless phones throughout the home and yard.

Part of the DECT standard describes how it can work together with the GSM standard so that users can be free to move with a telephone from the outdoors (and GSM signals) into an indoor setting (and a DECT system). It's expected that many GSM service providers may extend their service to support DECT signals inside buildings. A dual-mode phone would automatically search first for a DECT connection, then for a GSM signal if DECT is not accessible.

I hope this helps you understand DECT and how it will be useful in the future. This article was prompted by my introduction to Skype Wifi phones. 

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