Cell phones forum: CDMA vs. GSM

These are totally different technologies and with 2 separate carriers you will find coverage changes. As handset manufacturers start offering GSM phones that encompass all cellular spectrums the phones become more global provided the service provider you choose has international roaming agreements in place. AT&T has recently announced their GSM coverage has doubled due to recently executed roaming agreements in the US. Network speeds for data are comparable in most areas but I have seen data on Verizon burst up to 1.3 Mbps in some markets.

See Consumer Reports Magazine (02/04).

You said: << I wanted to use my nokia 3585i cell as a modem for my dell axim x5, and it won't work. It seems as though it will be very difficult to achieve that kind of system. >>

Well...I want to use my new phone as a modem for my Toshiba e405 PocketPC. I'm leaning toward Verizon (& this thread says CDMA is best for Data)...but need to know what the PHONE has to have, for it to beam signal over to the PDA.

The PDA has an Infrared Port & an SDIO slot. I find I could buy an SDIO modem card for it for about $100. I could also buy a Bluetooth SD card for the SDIO slot. A "non-phone" alternate Web solution for the PDA would be an SD WiFi card (won't work in the car,only near a WiFi signal spot mostly not free).

If I get a new phone to handle the Web, which network & phone features would be best(leaning to Verizon CDMA)? My current Verizon plan (+ wonderful discontinued Motorola StarTak) is paid-up, so I could switch to any network (tho'great service this 8 yrs).

Can one buy a phone that has CDMA *and* GSM capabilities?

There are phones that do both CDMA and the International frequency GSM, and some have SIM cards.

yes u are righ. sim card are gsm only and i hate them lol cause if ur phone dies or whatever is expensive, u have to pay for 2 diff things u get it. but n the good side u can grab someons phone that uses it the same type of sin card or a litle alike and it will b able to work maybe not fully but enough, where n cdma if u lose ur phone the person that finds it or stole it cant use or activated it at all in united states/canada/mexico. cdma is use by sprintpcs and verizon and verizon just catchup to sprintpcs n the 3g network and broadband i forgot whats the code name for the other thing faster than 3g which sprintpcs already has been having n their cell phone now we wait for sprintpcs to let it out and verizon to start working on it. that code name i forgot is very important feature when u buy a phone since thats the faster network that will b available soon. almost every phone for sprintpcs has it. btw i have sprintpcs and all my contacts are on my cell phone and also online, i synchronize them automatically it updates for free very cool feature so u dont have to worry about losing ur contacts

Verizon and Sprint (CDMA) has a free service where you can load your numbers into their database making it easy to sync your old address book to your new CDMA phone. With SIM cards on GSM phones, if you lose your phone, get it stolen, or damage it extensively, you lose your contacts.

Hi,
There's no need for all this techno chatter. The consumer will never know the difference whether using CDMA or GSM. I'm in Beijing China for 3 weeks and practically everyone here has a cellphone. There must be hundreds of models to choose from. I'm using my old unlocked Motorola V-60 from T-Mobile. I bought a sim card from the local telephone store which gives me a phone number and let's me know when I'm need to add money. But I degress, the cellphones in China use both GSM & CDMA. They work everywhere and I mean everywhere.
You can be in the subway which is about 5-6 stories underground and reception is clear as a bell and there is seldom a dropped call. I don't see any repeater antennas like in the states but they must be somewhere. Most people here don't use landlines.
In closing, don't worry which system you have. BTW, I use T-Mobile in NY and reception has greatly improved in the last year due to more repeaters. I believe it now rivals Verizon, at least in my area. One more note, the larger phones do get better reception.

With CDMA phone, if you where to change carrier, you will unlikey say bye bye to the phone. With a GSM phone, it use a sim card inside your phone. When you travel to Europe, or Asia, you can always buy a SIM and paid little with oversea calls, and your family can always call you in case of emergency.
In US, if you are not constant using the cellphone, people then go with the PRE-PAID plan, and mose pre-paid phone use a SIM card. Cingular and T-Mobile use SIM card, and you can use them oversea.

CDMA and GSM carries good signal. Comsumer although rate Verizon as the best CDMA carrier.. T-MOBILE is second to the best. My house is in a balck hole area, and I can get a good signal using either a motorola or Nokia phone!

The two are the same just different names. I've done extensive research online and have found out that the two are the same just used by different wireless companies. Verizon and Cingular are competitors so naturally they won't use the same network. Most important to remember when choosing a wireless service that is not one company has towers in every place you think you might to go. So if good reception is what your are looking for CDMA and GSM are the same, it's where you go that makes the difference. I beleive this is why they came up with Text Messaging. When my sister get out of reception range we text each other and they go thru 99% of the time. Technology is invented by humans and subject to making mistakes as humans do. Remember that. My reasons for staying with a certain wireless company is based on customer service, just make sure you have a logical train of thought when trying to resolve and issue you might have with your carrier. They are not perfect and your representative has the power to do only so much, they too have a boss to answer to. Cell phones are far from being 100% effective, I have lost many calls and had other issues but I tried to deal with things by applying a lot of common sense. Go to phonescoop.com it is a very informative web site, glossary included for your reference. Good Luck

hmm interestin opinions here but let see the facts.I am from hungary moved to the states 2003.I have used cell phones over there which is GSM.They had CDMA or TDMA before GSM in the early 90`s.I have used both for couple of years.CDMA was not that great as far as quality and data transfer.So soon they switched to GSM.That was in hungary in the 90`s.So i came here 2003 and to south dakota rapid city.Werizon and some other local company had running cell services.I was just surprised why everybody`s phone has still antennas?After looking every CDMA phone has antennas.Wich is easy to brake if u have it in your jeans and u sit in the car.Ooops brake.Not to mainton that anywhere u have it its sticks out and hard to deal with it.And they mostly havy and bigger then GSM.And on the other hand when i heard plp what experiences had with their phone that was just a funny part.I heard sometime when u talked to somebody all of the sudden u hear another line 2 plp chatting on their cell phones!I have heard that my brother was talking to someone and all of the sudden he heard the fire fighter chatting on the radio.I say thats not a way it should be when u want to talk to someone on the phone.By the way it is very poor coverage and i havent seen any high speed intenet on those networks.at least 56. kbps?On GSM in hungary never ever heard such a things like that.With GSM mobility was the best.We had coverage on the mountain or basemant.Subways and tunnels mostly have network installed.Like the other guy sad how surprised he was when he had reception under lincoln or holland tunnel under some river.Anyways GSM phones are small handy NO ANTENNA!Now a days even flip phones dosent have antenna to break like samsungs.But on the other place i am here in las vegas nevada and here they use GSM and somehow is not good!Hard to get reception Sms failers and calls are disconnecting all the time.And when u wonder u coming from a country that they say 50 years back behind and having none of these propblems u start to get laugh.I say u decide what u like but in the and if they grow up with GSM that far like in europ thats gonna rule.Ohh just for the end over there already using UMTS wich is a third generation of GSM.Basicly high speed telephony with video.Not just voice.I never heard anything like that from CDMA or TDMA.Not to maintion that those phones dosent have SIM CARDS.Works like a walky talky!So if u dont plan buy a new phone every year like most plp does i would get GSM phone.Not to maintion i am a constraction worker and i havent seen shockwawe dust and splash water wawe CDMA phone.I tell u what.I have dropped my phone off the roof from above the second story.It was a german phone and they didnt have colored screens yet.But the antenna was already integrated.What happened?Battery fall out with a cover.By the way it falled on concrete.I put it together and it worked.No screen problem or anything.Just like everybody still remembers for the phone back in 96 ericcson g688 that plp couldnt brake easy.U could drop it anytime.From certain hights like first story or your hand or pocket no problem.Ever.Tell me now.Who makes phones like that nowadays?So make your dicision!

The reason CDMA seems to be better in the USA is because CDMA has been around longer than GSM has. I've been told that whetever T-Mobile was called before Voicestream, they were the first GSM service in the USA, but it didn't take off until 2002 when AT&T & Cingular decided to add GSM service. AT&T decided to retain TDMA, but not build it up any further while Cingular decided to phase it out. Since the FCC won't create a standard for digital, CDMA will continue to get bigger while GSM will take several more years before it can match CDMA's coverage of the USA.

Europe decided on a standard, and it's GSM. The FCC in the USA however hasn't decided on a standard, which is why there's GSM 850 for rural & small markets and 1900 for the largest markets. The USA was originally just using the 1900 band for GSM when Voicestream was around, and for TDMA when it was used, 800/1900, and same for CDMA. CDMA is still around and believe is here to stay. So unless Europe decides to adopt CDMA as well, Sprint phones will never work in Europe, especially when Europe uses the 1800 band.

GSM phones work in Europe while CDMA phones do not, so if you travel abroad, you will want a GSM phone.

If no one has mentioned this yet, GSM phones tend to be a lot smaller than CDMA phones because of the handset technology needed. That's why T-Mo and Cing offer the "cooler" phones, like the RAZR and some of the really tiny Japanese models.