Telecom Dictionary

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WAN 
wide area network

WARC 
World Administrative Radio Consortium

WATS 
Wide-area telecommunications services. See Wide-area telecommunications services.

Waveform
amplitude (magnitude) versus time representation of signals.

Wide-Area Telecommunications Services (WATS)
WATS is a service permitting customers to make (OUTWATS) or receive (INWATS) long distance 
voice or data calls and to have them billed on a bulk rather than an individual call basis. The 
service is provided by means of special private access lines connected to WATS equipped central 
offices. A single access line permits inward or outward service but not both.

Wink-Start
Wink-Start is a supervisory signal that consists of an off-hook followed by an on-hook signal, 
exchanged between two switching systems. The wink-start signal is generated by the called 
switch to indicate to the calling switch that it is ready to receive address signal digits.

WO
Work Order

Work Area
In a premises distribution system, a work area is an area containing stations and the connections 
between those stations and their telecommunications (information) outlets.

Work Order
A work order is the basic engineering document that adds, modifies, or removes network 
components (capital assets). It is the tracking mechanism that all telecommunication companies 
use to add or remove components from their capital base.