Is one necessarily better than the other? I currently have the Motorola v710 from Verizon. I previously had service with Sprint and AT&T. With Sprint, I could only use my phone at work if I went to the building lobby (my office is on the 28th floor). Switched from Sprint due to lousy reception and dropped calls. My Motorola v600 from At&T could only be used if I went towards a window on my floor. Switched from AT&T because of billing nightmares and shitty customer service. I must admit with Verizon I'm now able to use my V710 anywhere in my office building (including the elevator) and reception is much better than Sprint/AT&T. So, the question still remains is there any advantage of GSM over CDMA? If GSM is better, does Verizon offer a decent Bluetooth GSM phone?

 

CDMA - Old Technology
GSM - New Technology

 

Well, I used to retail phones, and consider myself somewhat an expert... or at least a knowledgable person.

CDMA is a technology, that although has been around for a long time, is proven. Its voice quality is not quite as good, but its not noticeable to most people. Its biggest advantage: its been around for so long that it has much more coverage than any GSM carrier... at least in the United States

GSM is much newer and has a lot of tech-savvy advantages, the primary being the SIM card that it uses to register with the towers. It is getting much mroe coverage every year, and data transmissions through GSM are able to go much faster (ie Internet on your phone, and in the future, video conferencing) GSM has introduced 3G networks much sooner than CDMA(excpet sprint) so that will only fuel thier growth. I would recommend GSM to anyone unless they would be in an area on a REGULAR basis(and i mean regular) where they wouldn't get coverage, and CDMA would.

Another thing, about 85-90 percent of phone purchases in the world use GSM technology, and so going anywhere international has that advantage. And also most of the manufacturers of handset (i.e. Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson) make a LOT more GSM phones... because they are more people that use them. And so you have a lot more options of handsets. Since this is the case, most new technology (like bluetooth and cameras and what not) show up in GSM handsets first. I just heard about the first Bluetooth Verizon phone the other day, and I have had bluetooth for over two years on Tmobile.

Sprint introduced a new 3G network that actually isn't a true CDMA and is compatible with current CDMA... and uses an advanced technology thats better than GSM. But I am not so sure how well its going to be able to sustain Sprint's future.

Oh and to answer your question, no Verizon does not offter ANY GSM phone.. they cant, its not compatible with thier system.

 

Not true. GSM has been around much longer than CDMA by probably 4-5 years. However, in the U.S. alone, GSM is newer technology because it took the U.S. military awhile to allocate the 1900mhz frequency for use with our handsets. Either way, in building coverage is sparse. For the most part, GSM holds the upperhand that I have experienced around the DFW area as well as driving to Austin, Houston, San Antonio, OK, LA, NM, CO and KS. I would choose GSM, you will be much happier.

 

For us in Canada, GSM network is not offering the best coverage. GSM is the most important network in the world, especially used in Asia and Europe. The sound quality of GSM is the best.

For myself, I need a good coverage and a reliable network, so I decide to stay with CDMA. CDMA has the advantage to be compatible with amps network (Analog). For me while I'm at sea, analog network is very usefull since it has a greater range (but a poor battery life unfortunately).

By the way, a CDMA phone is not compatible with a GSM phone network. If you by a CDMA phone, you'll have to stay with a CDMA carrier, and same for GSM.

GSM is using a small chip that you can put in any GSM phone. This chip is yours, and is directly rely on your billing. If you go over Europe, you bring your chip, put it in a European phone (they use different GSM frequency over there), and you'll be billed here in America.

You can even buy a GSM phone that can work everywhere in the world, with any GSM frequency. You can't do this with a CDMA phone.

Hope this help you.