Overview
CT2 is a digital FDMA system that uses Time Division Duplexing technology to share carrier frequencies between handsets and base stations. Features of the system are:
- Standardized on 864-868 MHz
- 500 frames/second (alternately base station and handset)
- 100 kHz carriers
- 32 kbit/s ADPCM voice channel compression
- 10 mW maximum power output
- GFSK data encoding
- Up to 100 meter (300 ft) range
Unlike DECT, CT2 was a voice-only system, though like any minimally-compressed voice system, users could deploy analog modems to transfer data. In the early nineties, Apple Computer sold a CT2 modem called the PowerBop to make use of France's Bibop CT2 network. Although CT2 is a microcellular system, fully capable of supporting handoff, unlike DECT it does not support "forward handoff", meaning that it has to drop its former radio link before establishing the subsequent one, leading to a sub-second dropout in the call during the handover.
Read more about this topic: CT2