Dueling Standards Spell Headaches for Wireless Phone, Pager Customers

An emerging generation of wireless phones, pagers and other communicators appears likely to get stuck in technical trouble.

Personal communications services, known as PCS, are often touted as working throughout the United States and the world.

But manufacturers and network providers are choosing transmission methods that aren’t always compatible, creating a patchwork quilt of signal.

“There’s no way it’s going to be seamless at first,” said Laurence Milstein, acting director of the Center for Wireless Communications at the University of California at San Diego. “In order for it to be, a given technology would have to permeate every area.”

Milstein could not estimate when he believed seamless operation would be possible. “I wish I knew,” he said.

The problem is the new devices use signals in which everything, including voices, has been converted into the digital language of computers. Doing so allows voice and data signals to intermingle, making greater use of scarce airwave space.

But seven different methods for the digital transmission process have been proposed, and carriers are free to choose.

The Federal Communications Commission decided not to impose a single standard on companies. The FCC auctioned two PCS licenses in each of 51 areas of the country known as “major trading areas.” In total, carriers paid $7.03 billion during the auction that ended in March.

“The industry is suited to determine which standards are best. The marketplace will determine everything works out in the best public interest,” said FCC spokeswoman Stacey Reuben Mesa.

The problem is similar to one that confronted consumers in the 1980s, when videocassette recorders became popular with two different standards, Sony’s Betamax and VHS.

After several years of dueling standards, the market settled on VHS, although Betamax was widely regarded as the better format.

With the new wireless devices, consumers may be forced to choose between technologies without knowing much about them, UCSD’s Milstein said.

And there is no guarantee that all standards will survive, meaning some carriers--and customers--may have to change in midstream.

Several solutions to the PCS incompatibility problem have been proposed, including:

* Dual-band devices that would work on both traditional cellular and the new PCS frequencies. The drawback is the consumer would be paying for two phones in one unit.

* A network that can work with all the standards. Such a solution is being worked on by Steinbrecher Corp. of Burlington, Mass. but some people have feasibility questions.

* Devices that include several transmission standards. The consumer, however, would be paying for a second or third standard.

PCS PrimeCo, a Dallas-based consortium of Baby Bells and AirTouch Cellular, chose CDMA, or code division multiple access. But other companies, such as Pacific Bell Mobile Services, chose GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications. It is popular in 70 other countries.

AT&T; and Sprint, the two largest winners in the PCS auctions, have yet to announce a digital standard.