GLOSSARY OF TERMS M

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Main Distribution Frame (MDF): A distribution frame on one part of which the external trunk cables entering a facility terminate, and on another part of which the internal user subscriber lines and trunk cabling to any intermediate distribution frames terminate. Note 1: The MDF is used to cross-connect any outside line with any desired terminal of the multiple cabling or any other outside line. Note 2: The MDF usually holds central office protective devices and functions as a test point between a line and the office. Note 3: The MDF in a private exchange performs functions similar to those performed by the MDF in a central office. Synonym: Main Frame Measured Local Rate Service - Service for which charges are made in accordance with the total connection time of the call. Meet Point Billing - A billing arrangement that applies when end-to-end service is not wholly within the local exchange boundaries of a single telephone company. Megabits Per Second (Mbps) - MBps would be Megabytes per second. MECAB - The Multiple Exchange Carrier Access Billing (MECAB) document prepared under the direction of the Billing Committee of the OBF which functions under the auspices of the Carrier Liaison Committee of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. Message Rate Service - Service which has a given number of messages is allotted monthly. Calls (messages) exceeding this fixed number are charged on a per message basis. Rates are company specific. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) - One of the 305 urban cellular telephone service areas as defined by the FCC. When the FCC began issuing cellular radio licenses, it divided the United States into RSA and MSA markets. Microwave Band - Those frequencies from about I gigahertz upward that use microwave frequencies for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communications, including common carriers, cable TV operators, broadcasters and private operational fixed users. Mobile Broadband Services - Services that are device-based and available throughout the service providers cellular coverage area, similar to cell phone services. Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) - The central computer that connects a wireless phone call to the public telephone network. The MTSO controls the entire system's operations, including monitoring calls, billing and handoffs. Modem - An abbreviated term for "modulator-demodulator." A modem converts digital signals into analog signals (and vice versa), enabling computers to send and receive data over the telephone networks. Modification of Final Judgment (MFJ) - The 1982 consent decree which, as of 1/1/84, broke up the Bell System into AT&T and the seven RBOCs. Also known as "divestiture;" technically a "modification" of the consent decree entered against Western Electric and AT&T in 1956. Modulation - Converting digital signals into analog signals. Multi-Association Group - The Multi-Association Group, consisting of the National Rural Telecom Associatoin (NRTA), the National Telephone Cooperative Association (NTCA), the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) and the United State Telecom Association (USTA), was formed to respond to the needs of the small and mid-sized LECs that serve U.S. rural and insular areas. This group filed a plan with the Federal Communications Commission to improve the Commission's access charge and universal support systems, as well as to enforce the geographic averaging requirements of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the "Act"). The plan addresses regulation of those incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) that are not subject to price cap regulation. Multiplex - (1) To interleave or simultaneously transmit two or more messages on a single channel. (2) Communications arrangement where multiple devices share a common transmission channel, though only one may transmit at a time. (3) Process or equipment that combines data from two or more individual circuits onto a higher-speed circuit for transmission. Two methods are used: frequency division where all channels are transmitted at the same time, or time division where several messages timeshare a channel.

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