Circuit Switched Data provides wireless data transfer by dedicating a single radio time slot to a user, exactly like a standard voice call. It bills by the minute rather than by the megabyte and typically maxes out at extremely slow speeds, such as 9.6 kilobits per second. It was widely used in early GSM networks before packet-based data systems like GPRS became the standard.
Heard on the job
The remote telemetry station still uses CSD to dial in its daily reports, so it ties up a channel for ten minutes every night.
Also heard as
- circuit switched data