Radio frequency coverage and network management for cordless Charge-A-Call service market trial

In April 1993, after an extensive beta vial with internal users, NYNEX-New England launched a cordless Charge-A-Call service, a market trial of a wireless, outgoing-only, public telephone service. The trial uses Motorola Silverlink 2000 CT2 equipment operating at 1921-1929 MHz under NYNEX Science and Technology's FCC experimental license. A large number of public calling area (PCA) base stations have been deployed in downtown Boston to interface with the public switched telephone network. Trial participants can make calling card and other non-sent-paid telephone calls in the PCAs utilizing small portable personal handsets. PCAs include all major street intersections in the trial area and certain other locations such as North Station and South Station, the Delta and US Air Shuttle terminals at Logan Airport and seven floors of the Jordan Marsh department store. The paper describes the market trial, the network management and geographic information system (GIS) tools developed to support the trial and the procedures and techniques used to ensure a high quality level of service over the trial area. The systems and tools developed are sufficiently generic to be readily applicable to other network-based personal communications service offerings.<>