Advanced Mobile Phone System is the historic first-generation cellular technology that established the framework for mobile networks. It relies on analog frequency-division multiple access to carry voice calls over radio waves. Because it transmits unencrypted analog signals, calls are highly vulnerable to eavesdropping and cloning, leading to its eventual replacement by digital standards.
We finally decommissioned the last of the AMPS hardware to refarm the spectrum for digital services.
Because it was purely analog, anyone with a modified radio scanner could listen to AMPS conversations from miles away.
Also heard as
- Advanced Mobile Phone System
Related terms
CDMA
A channel access method where multiple transmitters send information simultaneously over a single communication channel.
GSM
Global System for Mobile communications is a standard for digital cellular networks.
Cellular
Relating to a network architecture that divides a geographic area into multiple radio coverage zones.
FDD
A transmission method that uses separate frequency bands for sending and receiving data.