iDEN - technical definition

(Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) A wireless communications technology from Motorola that provides support for voice, data, short messages (SMS) and dispatch radio (two-way radio) in one phone. Used by various carriers around the globe, Nextel Communications uses iDEN to provide nationwide coverage in the U.S.

iDEN operates in the 800 MHz and 1.5 GHz bands and is based on TDMA. It uses Motorola's VSELP (Vector Sum Excited Linear Predictive) vocoder for voice compression and QAM modulation to deliver 64 Kbps over a 25 kHz channel. Each channel can be divided six times to transmit any mix of voice, data, dispatch or text message. See cellular generations.