wireline

adj. of communication or technology, connected by cable or wire; the opposite of wireless. Subjects: English, Technology

Etymological Note: From the noun “wireline,” defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a telegraph or telephone line of wire” and dating to 1934, but reinforced by more recent repeated back-formation from “wireless.”

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Citations: 1951 Wall Street Journal (July 25) “Canadian Broadcasting Awards Canadian Bell TV Network Contract” p. 7: Canadian Broadcasting also awarded a five-year contract to Canadian National Railways and Canadian Pacific Railway jointly to provide network wireline services for radio broadcasting. 1969 New York Times (Dec. 26) “Phones In Planes Approved By F.C.C.” (in Washington, D.C.) p. 51: The new order sets aside 12 channels for air-ground service by “general communications common carriers, including both wireline and miscellaneous common carriers.” 1981 Dow Jones News Service (Apr. 9) “AT&T May Offer Mobil Phones Commercially Within Two Years”: A wholly-owned AT&T subsidiary Amps Corp was formed last year to comply with an earlier FCC order requiring that wireline carriers set up separate subsidiaries for cellular systems. 1991 Sanford Bingham @ New York international Herald Tribune (Paris, France) (Oct. 7) “Small Access Carriers Challenging Local Bell Monopolies A 2d Divestiture Looms in U.S.”: These latter licenses, which are being snapped up by entrepreneurs, by cellular telephone franchisees, by cable television companies, and by the Bells themselves, will allow low-cost entry into the local telephone market. They are being treated by the FCC and regulators as a field-leveling, pro-competitive tool but are viewed by the Bell companies as one more dispiriting milestone on the migration away from wireline networks, on which the Bell companies currently rely for nearly all of their revenue. 1993 Variety (June 24) “TW lays plans for fiber optic net in San Diego”: Although Pacific Telesis Group operates wireline telephone services in the region, U S West has held a cellular franchise in San Diego since 1986. 1994 Shari Caudron IndustryWeek (Dec. 19) “General Magic Inc. Mountain View, Calif.”: It will let your computer take advantage of information and services on different kinds of networks, in different brands of computers, on both wireline and wireless media, all over the world. 2007 Reuters (Aug. 14) “Company Profile for VZ.N”: The Company’s Wireline business provides telephone services, including voice, network access and nationwide long-distance services, broadband video and data services, and other communications products and services globally in 150 countries. Its wireline business also owns and operates one of the global Internet protocol (IP) networks.

Posted 14 Aug 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend