Data transmission equipment introduced to consumer market

Mobile Phone News, Jan 30, 1992

DATA TRANSMISSION EQUIPMENT INTRODUCED TO CONSUMER MARKET

Credit card verification via radio transmissions provides a niche market that mobile-data equipment manufacturers plan to tap. Both Cellular Data Inc. (CDI) and U.S. Wireless Data Inc. have developed mobile terminals that will enable taxi, limousine and shuttle service drivers as well as food service delivery personnel to verify credit cards by cellular frequencies while on the road.

Although both firms' products achieve the same results, their operations and deployment costs differ. Also, U.S. Wireless Data's POS 50 is ready for deployment while CDI's product recently received FCC type acceptance.

...The POS 50 Verifies Credit Cards Via Cellular

U.S. Wireless Data's POS 50 products will verify a credit card wherever cellular phone service exists. The process takes 10-18 seconds and transmits the data via the circuit-switched voiced channels of the cellular network. The current prototype, the POS 50, took 18 months to develop and is the third prototype in production.

The user-friendly prototype is operated by swiping the credit card through the unit and entering the total amount of the sale. The data is then electronically captured and funds are deposited in the merchant's bank account after the balance and settlement process is performed.

The firm's next target market is the retail environment. Ron Stambaugh, president of U.S. Wireless Data Inc., said that at this point, the service is competitive with wireline data transmission services.

With the launch of the POS 50 in the U.S. marketplace imminent, the firm has focused its energies at entry into foreign markets. By altering the transceiver, the POS 50 can be operated in different frequency environments which creates a worldwide market for the product. U.S. Wireless Data is in the process of negotiating contracts in Latin America, and Europe.

...Stanbaugh: For the Time Being, POS 50 Will Own the Credit Card Market

The difference between CDI and U.S. Wireless Data's terminals is that CDI deploys the X.25 unit to all the cellular switches in the area that the service is to be made available while U.S. Wireless Data's transceiver does not need to add on equipment at the cellular switch.

"CDI is using the guardband or sideband and they have to install equipment at every cell site and mobile telephone switching office within range of the service," said Stambaugh. "To install the equipment will require a huge capital outlay. The POS 50 works today anywhere and for the time being, we will own the market," Stambaugh added.

...CDI's Equipment Recently Received FCC Type Acceptance

CDI's remote terminal unit (RTU), a combination of RF transceiver, modem and multiport asynchronous packet assembler/dissassembler, recently received FCC type acceptance, moving the product closer to commercial deployment. The RTU is the end-user equipment that acts as the communication link between any data device--such as a credit card reader, alarm control panel or vending machine--and CDI's narrowband technology.

RTU operates by using CDI's narrowband technology which employs the lightly modulated areas between voice channels in the cellular spectrum. The RTU employs four RS-232 serial ports that accept high-speed, data terminal equipment and converts the data into an error-corrected air interface protocol. The data then is transmitted to a cell cite where it is converted into the X.25 protocol and then transported to the X.25 switch at the carriers' mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) via existing T1 links. The X.25 switch delivers the data to any wide area network which then transports the information to the appropriate host computer.