Differences? Advantages?

 

There aren't any real difference that the consumer needs to be aware of. If you are looking for something specifically, you might want to investigate them more indepth. Otherwise you should know that eventually GSM is going away in favour of the better technology, CDMA. Again, no impact to the consumer, they won't have a say in the matter. Your cellular company is not going anywhere, either....just the technology.

 

The only thing I like about GSM is the SIM card. I really wish CMDA phones had that.

 

aaaah! thanks much ken!!!!

 

gsm allows you the ability to take the phone overseas, cdma does not have a s many roaming partners

 

I always thought GSM > Cdma? So what's eventually going to replace GSM?

 

There isn't a such thing as cdma having roaming partners overseas. As you know, Sprint is a major worldwide telephone company. They have roaming agreements with nearly every other cellular telephone company in the world. While you can't take your cdma phone overseas, Sprint will issue you a GSM sim-card with your Sprint CDMA number/account in it. Take that card, find your own GSM phone, and you are no different than the Cingular/T-Mobile customer except they keep to keep their own phone. And the rates are maybe a bit higher, too on Sprint.

Good news is that's about to change. Verizon, a CDMA carrier, sells a CDMA Samsung phone that you can use everyday all over the Americas and for those 1,000 or so people who have to take their phone with them overseas, that Samsung phone has GSM fequencies in it that will roam all over Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.

All about Sprint International Roaming

 

UMTS

 

I'm not well versed on technology - but this was how it was expained to me by a techie:

GSM is the current standard in Europe, Japan and USA, while CDMA is used in S. Korea, China and USA. TDMA used by the Cingular/AT&T Wireless is already dated technology. Next generation 3G networks will make today's current standards look like black and white TV.

http://www.cellularfone.us/resources...chnologies.php

 

That site already has old info.

No GSM in Japan.

 

Great info...I always wondered about GSM & CDMA

 

Simply stated, CDMA is a signal using multiple towers from cell to cell, while GSM is using a satellite from cell to cell, resulting in fewer dropped calls

 

They have plenty as ken said...also fyi- VODAphone owns verizonwireless...they are prob one of the biggest companys in europe...

Look into the samsung a790

 

No satellites.

 

CDMA
CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access and incorporates spread spectrum, works by digitizing multiple conversations, attaching a code known only to the sender and receiver, and then dicing the signals into bits and re-assembling them.

TDMA
TDMA stands for Time Division Multiple Access and is a digital technology that allows multiple users to share the same voice channel by having each conversation transmitted alternately over short lengths of time.

GSM
GSM stands for Global System for Mobil communication. GSM is a TDMA digital system that converts voice and access information to digital data, and communicates those data in bursts during brief time slots allocated to multiple subscribers sharing a radio channel. This system is being used by some of the PCS operators here in the US.

PCS
PCS stands for Personal Communications Services is the name adopted by the new, wireless service providers who have been awarded licenses to operate new phone systems in the 1900 MHz frequency range. The term "PCS" is often used in place of "digital cellular," but true PCS means that other services like paging, caller ID and Email are bundled into the service. Those same technologies are called “digital cellular” if they are transmitting at 800 MHz. There are two "types" of PCS services namely narrowband and broadband.

 

You really need to understand how RF modulation works to get any idea of which is better between CDMA,TDMA.... and what frequencys they are running on.


There are a lot of things that apply to why one is better than another. For instance the lower 800 mhtz frequencys have better penetration (into your house) that 1.9-2.XGz frequencies do. So one carrier using CDMA might be on a frequency that has better penetration than another carrier using TDMA. Hence one persons service might work better indoors than anothers? is this neccessarily a sign of better modulation? or better penetration? Or even network availability...

TDMA phones tend to have better battery life than CDMA because the efficiency in the modulation. Now mind you the difference isn't night and day, it is noticable.

There's a lot of tech stuff to determine which is superior. And you really have to have knowledge of a lot of things...

 

Isn't that called a satellite phone? and not GSM?

 

Get ready, cause when CDMA goes to WCDMA, every phone will use a sim card.

As for GSM using a satellite.... I haven't heard that one before.

The biggest advantage and disadvantage of both CDMA and GSM all lay in geographical reference as well as your intended use. I have been using GSM for almost 4 years and its only getting better. Some people still complain.

Verizon has the most solid coverage while Cingular has the largest footprint for coverage. Take that for what its worth.

btw, cellular is usually referring to analog such as TDMA...but since it has become such a familiar name, its the default moniker for any mobile phone you may carry.

 

 

I guess the professional who works at Cingular is wrong

 

Happpends to the best of us...There are alot of people in the ceullar industry on this website...so it is pretty intresting to get feed back from everyone..

 

Man, there sure are some varying thoughts on the current and future wireless development....

BTW, there are CDMA hadnsets with SIM cards, just not in the US.

 

The future is 3G...for both WCDMA and UMTS...

What do you need clarification on?

 

3G just means 3rd generation.... curren't CDMA is on it's 3rd generation.

 

:wtf:

3G is an ITU specification for the third generation of mobile communications technology. Analog cellular was the first generation, digital (TDMA, CDMA, GSM) the second. 3G has increased data bandwidth, up to 384 Kbps when a device is stationary or moving at pedestrian speed, 128 Kbps in a car, and 2 Mbps in fixed applications. 3G will work over wireless air interfaces such as GSM, TDMA, and CDMA. EDGE, and CDMA 1xRTT have been developed specifically to meet the bandwidth needs of 3G, and now we are graduating into full 3G with UMTS, WCDMA, EVDO, EVDV, etc.

 

UMTS is the U.S.'s version of 3G. I never said 3G wouldn't work over wireless. You're confusing me... btw, you forgot to mention 2.5G...the sad excuse to try to appease the American people that they're actually getting good technology.

 

should have mentioned that in my last post in this thread.

 

WTF? UMTS is not the US's version. UMTS is the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, based on GSM/GPRS. It has nothing to do with a specific country.

2.5G is an acronym that people assigned to 1xRTT and EDGE services in their infancies. Many people believe that real 3G must offer services that 1xEVDO and UTMS do, so they felt that 1xRTT and EDGE did not qualify as 3G. 2.5G is not a valid description and is a slang term. 1xRTT is in fact a 3G technology as defined by ITU in the IMT-2000 standards.

You might want to check your resources....

 

Why are you getting so defensive using cusswords? Just explain and we'll all listen. UMTS data speeds go up to 384k...isn't that 3G speeds? 2.5G was also something to explain regular GPRS speeds as well as what a lot of industry sites said. Since we're on the subject of corrections, its UMTS not UTMS.

 

I did not cuss, I abreviated . I don't mean to get pissy, just around know it alls all the time and I assume everyone is. Sorry.

I have no idea what UTMS is

UMTS is a 3G media technology that is based on the ITU2000 standard. The only ones really looking at it or employing it are GPS/EDGE/WCDMA providers.

2.5G is a term that became comonplace in the wireless world, basicly for what I said before. People got hyped on the potential of 3G speeds, and felt short changed with the first releases of CDMA2000, etc, so they shortchanged the name as well.

 

Like the PC industry, mobile telephony is on an upgrade treadmill. Just get the mainstream handset and plan of the day cause things will chnage within a year and you'll want to upgrade.

 

 

I dunno all about the technical bull crap of CDMA or GSM. All i know is that i have GSM from T-mobile, with the international roaming activated, free of charge. And i was able to land to Gatwick airport, turn on my phone, and voila it was picking up all four GSM carriers and kept changing them to its liking ( O2, Orange, T-mobile & vodafone) and so on. Then further on to my journey to Dubai in the U.A.E and it picked up Etisalat, and then to my final destination Karachi, where it seamlessly picked up the local carrier called Mobilink.

so yeah in short best part about GSM is to be able to roam in virtually all the countries worldwide...

Yeah the phone bill in the end ofcourse me...

 

So I see your cellphone worked just like the 20,000,000 other cellphones on the planet.

I'm curious, it's 2005. Why is it you believe that a T-Mobile phone is the only phone that can do this?

 

I never said T-mobile is the only phone that can do this. I was saying i have TMOBILE as my GSM carrier and the fact that i could ROAM and that i couldnt do that with a CDMA or a TDMA phone.
Since the guy who started the thread wanted to know the difference b/w CDMA and GSM, i was just breaking it down for him the advantage of having a GSM phone and the fact that i could roam around just like the other 200000000 people (including you) on the damn planet.

 

you can do it on a cdma phone..check out samsung a790...both cdma and gsm...whats the problem??

 

ok how do i put this....
Either way, whether a phone has both CDMA and GSM or not... all im trying to say is, the benefit of a GSM network is the roaming capabilty... i dun care if ur body part suddenly grows GSM capabilites... its just the fact that GSM offers ROAMING !!! I know that Sprint offers roaming also... but in order to actually use the roaming u need to have a GSM phone, if u are travelling to other countries of the world....

BONEHEADS.... lol

 

hehe, i guess one of the advantages of gsm is that you can actually make a telephone call, too...huh?

ok, we know that you just get off the airplane and you power up your own phone that you are used to, all the functions, and that you have all your phonebook number in it and you have all your chargers and accessories, etc.....and that makes it a whole lot easier, you might say that is an advantage of gsm over cdma when you land in a "gsm-only" country. ok, i can be fair and say that's true.

unless you're a frequent overseas traveler, it's not really an advantage for the one or two times a year you go. if you do go alot, why not get the best phone and plan you can get for america where you are 95% of the time and get an inexpensive gsm phone that you use only for overseas....or borrow one.

sprint and verizon and nextel have taken the bite out of overseas travel when it comes to gsm. with cdma popping up all over the world (where you can start to use your cdma phone), it's no longer a cingular/tmobile advantage, more like a convenience. i would never pick a carrier just because they say "when you fly to pakistan, you can use your phone...." otherwise everybody will go to verizon because pretty soon, they'll be saying "can you hear me know" on the moon.

now about that gsm phone of your. what do you do when you are in an area where there is only analog cellular service (which is many places right here at home in the us)? lol

 

I am happy... i am so drunk..., i got phone... it makes calls.. life makes senseee... shittt.. goodnightttt.. luv u all... bye byee.....

 

How appropriate for the name.