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- The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is iDEN.
iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) is a mobile communications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. Nextel is the largest US retailer of iDEN services. iDEN places more users in a given spectral space, compared to analog cellular systems, by using time division multiple access (TDMA). Six communication channels share a 25 kHz space; some competing technologies place only one channel in 12.5 kHz.
Data (such as paging and text messaging) and voice communications are supported by iDEN.
Nextel, in order to provide high data rates for Packet Data, is providing a mid next generation technology called WiDEN. WiDEN is an expansion on the current iDEN system, where instead of using a normal 25kHz channel for packet data, it will encompass 4 carriers (100kHz) into one channel. This will allow download speeds of 96kbps, which is comparable to the average CDMA2000 speeds from American competitors Sprint and Verizon.
iDEN is a technology with no clear path for high speed wireless data. As such, Nextel is currently evaluating evolution plans that include Qualcomm 1xEVDO and Flarion's Flash-OFDM.
NOTE: The above information concerning Nextel's plans to roll out WiDEN in order to provide competitive 2.5G data services is no longer accurate. Following the Sprint/Nextel merger, iDEN will be phased out, to be folded into Sprint's network which employs CDMA2000 (voice and data via 1xRTT) and (in the testing phase) EV-DO. Nextel's Push-to-talk feature will replace Sprint's Ready Link offering, however will run on Sprint's EVDO Release A network in 2007. The successor to push to talk will be Qualcomm's Qchat product.
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