Editing DECT (section)

==Application==
The DECT standard originally envisaged three major areas of application:<ref name=TR101178/>
* Domestic cordless telephony, using a single base station to connect one or more handsets to the public telecommunications network.
* Enterprise premises cordless PABXs and wireless LANs, using many base stations for coverage. Calls continue as users move between different coverage cells, through a mechanism called handover. Calls can be both within the system and to the public telecommunications network.
* Public access, using large numbers of base stations to provide high capacity building or urban area coverage as part of a public telecommunications network.
* Wireless microphone systems, for Speech optimized applications with Automatic frequency and interference management.

Of these, the domestic application (cordless home telephones) has been extremely successful. The enterprise [[business telephone system#Private branch exchange|PABX]] market, albeit much smaller than the cordless home market, has been very successful as well, and all the major PABX vendors have advanced DECT access options available. The public access application did not succeed, since public cellular networks rapidly out-competed DECT by coupling their ubiquitous coverage with large increases in capacity and continuously falling costs. There has been only one major installation of DECT for public access: in early 1998 [[Telecom Italia]] launched a wide-area DECT network known as "Fido" after much regulatory delay, covering major cities in Italy.<ref>[http://www.dectweb.com/DECTForum/news/NewsLettersPDF/nl199801.pdf DECT for Cordless Terminal Mobility]. DECT Forum Newsletter. 6 March 1998</ref> The service was promoted for only a few months and, having peaked at 142,000 subscribers, was shut down in 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.angelodenicola.it/articoli/messaggero/2000/2000_04_05.htm|title=La TELECOM spegne "Fido" – 5 aprile 2000|website=Angelodenicola.it|access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref>

DECT has been used for [[wireless local loop]] as a substitute for copper pairs in the "last mile" in countries such as India and South Africa. By using directional antennas and sacrificing some traffic capacity, cell coverage could extend to over {{convert|10|km|mi}}. One example is the [[corDECT]] standard.

The first data application for DECT was [[Net3|Net<sup>3</sup>]] wireless LAN system by Olivetti, launched in 1993 and discontinued in 1995. A precursor to Wi-Fi, Net<sup>3</sup> was a micro-cellular data-only network with fast roaming between base stations and 520&nbsp;kbit/s transmission rates.

Data applications such as electronic cash terminals, traffic lights, and remote door openers<ref name="dedected-WhatisDECT">{{Cite web |url=https://dedected.org/trac/raw-attachment/wiki/25C3/talk-25c3.pdf |title=What is DECT? |date=29 December 2008 |publisher=deDECTed.org |first=Andreas |last=Schuler |author2=Tews, Erik |author3=Weinmann, Ralf-Philipp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005180737/https://dedected.org/trac/raw-attachment/wiki/25C3/talk-25c3.pdf |archive-date=5 October 2016 |url-status=dead |access-date=15 September 2016 |df=dmy }}</ref> also exist, but have been eclipsed by [[Wi-Fi]], [[3G]] and [[4G]] which compete with DECT for both voice and data.