02/12/1996 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

4 Voice Mail - The electronic storage or transfer of audible messages. Wireless LAN's - Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) provide wireless connections for devices such as portable computers and personal digital assistants to other devices and to databases. Wireless LANs are expected to be built for private user groups, such as a business within a small coverage area like a business campus or downtown area. Wireless PBX - Wireless PBX is a PCS service which is essentially a wireless business telephone. It is expected that Wireless PBX service will provide the same features that desktop business telephones currently provide, such as voice mail and three-way teleconferencing. The phone handset will be cordless with the user able to make and receive calls when he or she may be within a service coverage area. Coverage areas for Wireless PBX are anticipated to be primarily within buildings and in defined outdoor areas, such as a business campus or a neighborhood. This innovative technology may eliminate the expense and complexity of wiring new buildings for conventional telephone service. Thus, PCS is an upgraded version of cellular telephone technology. The major difference that must be of interest to Minnesota municipalities, in addition to the greater technical capabilities, is the requirement of much greater base antenna/site density than the conventional cellular telephone networks. This requirement translates into a need for 100,000 to 200,000 new PCS sites throughout the United States in the next several years. Currently, several groups of real estate companies are combing the Twin Cities metropolitan area to obtain numerous new antenna sites for their PCS industry sponsors. Municipal water towers are ideal sites for the much needed, many new PCS base/antenna systems because: o They are secure and not subject to vandalism. o They are usually located on the highest ground elevation site in the area (the PCS frequencies travel in a line -of -sight mode so the higher a PCS antenna is located the better will be the PCS communications range). o Water towers are solid and stable, thus they do not move in the wind nor do they collapse like conventional towers tend to do in harsh weather.