Cell phones forum: CDMA vs. GSM

just give you guys some general idea. GSM is used by some 2 billion people in over 212 country.
check wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_System_for_Mobile_Communications

The largest wireless provider in the US is Cingular.
It's gsm-based provider and has 58 million subcribers.

Cingular used to be CDMA-based but they convert its services. if gsm is not so good why would they convert? and why 58 million people keep loyal to cingular?

Cingular was never CDMA, only TDMA prior to the switch to GSM.

GSM actually stands for Global System for Mobile communications. This is the standard for Europe and Asia. CDMA phones are useless outside of the Americas. GSM allows more flexibility for international travelors. Transmissions do not travel to satellites and back to phones though some long distance calls may have a satellite link the same as a CDMA or even a land line.

Yes,the technologically advanced parts of the world are embracing CDMA...Just as we progressed from Flat-Head V8`s to 4 valve per cylender double overhead cam V8`s.On my CDMA phone people always think I am on a land-line phone !Not so with GSM.Verizon has GSM beat in data also...True 3G is almost nation-wide as we speak...and has much lower latency than EDGE to boot.

Sprint PCS was the only CDMA provider at one point back in 2000. Once Verizon joined in that helped Sprint manage the network of hardware (they share it). Remember Sprint always saying "the worlds largest digital network built from the ground up?" That's because they bought Nortel's equipment and installed it to build their CDMA network when CDMA was the new technology that replaced TDMA.

That is correct, Verizon has been in CDMA about two and a half years before Sprint's network. Sprint's network built from the ground up claim is founded on their use of the PCS (1900 band) of digital rather than the commonly used at that time cellular band (800). PCS was allocated as wireless phone use increased and the cellular band (which houses most governmental forms of internal wireless communication) would not support the weight of the tremendous amount of additional subscribers.

AHEM FIRST OF ALL THAT IS NO WHERE NEAR HOW CDMA WORKS THE ONLY PART YOU GOT RIGHT WAS THAT CDMA STANDS FOR CODE DIVISIONAL MULTIBLE ACCESS
AS FOR GSM IT STANDS FOR GLOBAL SYSTEMS FOR MOBLE COMMUNICATION IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SATELITES THANK YOU FOR DROPPING THE AVERAGE IQ OF THE POSTS ON THIS SITE DOWN TO ABOUT 14
CDMA AND GSM OPERATE BASICALLY THE SAME ACCEPT CDMA IS A DIGITAL/ANALOG HYBRID AND GSM IS A NARROW BAND TDMA THAT OPERATES ON AN ALL DIGITAL FREQUENCY WHICH IS WHY GSM COVERAGE DOES NOT EXTEND AS FAR AS CDMA ANALOG COVERAGE CAN TRAVEL THROUGH OBSTICLES FAR BETTER THAN DIGITAL AS WELL AS ALL DIGITAL CANNOT SUPPORT AS MANY FREQUENCY RANGES AS ANALOG WHICH IS WHY IN SOME PLACES WHEN TALKING ON A GSM PHONE YOU SOULD LIKE YOUR UNDER WATER ON IN A TIN CAN

CDMA IS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE THE REASON 80% OF THE WORLD IS ON GSM IS BECAUSE MOST OF THE WORLD DOESNT HAVE THE CAPITAL TO CONVERT TO CDMA BECUASE IT WOULD FORCE COMPANYS TO RAISE RATES WHICH WOULD FORCE THE CONSUMER TO PAY FOR THE CONVERSION WHICH WOULD CAUSE COUTRY WHO ARE PRIMARILY IN POVERTY TO LOSE MARKET SATURATION AND LOWER THE PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO USE CELLULAR TO DECREASE
THAT IS THE FACTUAL BASIS OF WHY CDMA IS SUPERIOR AND WHY GSM IS STILL USED

I was wondering why you recommend CDMA/TDMA over GSM?

The question is actually not relevant when speaking from a one country viewpoint. The distinction is important in how to call by cell phone to Europe, Middle East, and Asia from the US.

I have researched this extensively and GSM is the only true international carrier in the US. What is amazing is that the US has only one telephone company that can truly deliver international services in one stop shop and that is AT&T. That is why AT&T announced it would get back into wireless the day after the merger was completed with Cingular. Business customers, such as I, need AT&T to conduct global business from the US and as AT&T knows I will pay the freight for the convenience.

All the other cell phone providers using the CDMA standard have to cobble it together from several US and UK providers. You may also have to carry chips with you you need to interchange in your cell phone as you travel to Europe for example.

This is also an area that CNET Cellphone Diva is not proficient in and has in the past virtually ignored my early pleas for help when I began my search and research for a global business customer telephone service. It may be because there are only a handful of cellphones available for GSM Global in the US and many times none so you have to order the cellphone direct from Nokia Europe.

Isn't T-mobile pretty good with the ability to get international services? In fact, aren't they better than ATT, since they're owned by a foreign company (deustche telekom) anyway?

I Googled and found this article http://www.newmobilecomputing.com/story.php?news_id=3091 which seems to be a fairly thorough discussion from a layman user's point of view.

I also stumbled across an article probably a year ago (don't have the link, sorry) by a guy who was in the trenches and discussed some of this. One big point in his article was about legislation vs the free market. The Europeans were very high-and-mighty for awhile about having legislated a standard soon after the advent of digital cell phones and how that cut down so much on confusion for phone users. This guy was a laissez-faire advocate and contended that the free market in the US had eventually come up with a more flexible standard that had much more room for growth than what was locked-in for Europe.

Considering that I read recently that the average person replaces their phone every 18 months, it hardly matters for many. When they hit the limits of their current phone they'll discard it and get one that does what they need.

What a clown!My SPRINT phone does all the messaging standards and has unlimited internet and picture and video messaging for fifteen dollars a month.And when you use AOL or Yahoo Messenger,it goes over the net...doesn`t use TEXT-messaging charges as does GSM phones !Also,I am watching TV on my SPRINT phone unlimited for just ten more dollars.GSM doesn`t have the data bandwidth to provide streaming TV.WHAT PLANET ARE YOU LIVING ON ANYWAY?

I'm getting conflicting info about Sprint's CDMA Treo650 vs. unlocked GSM versions. I'm currently with Sprint (can't get discounts yet) and assume the speed of data tranfer/email is the primary issue. How much of a difference is there, and which is better? Any other significant differences?

Also heard Sprint has something new (faster CDMA?) due out in the 4thQ '05.

There is no need to confuse this issue GSM and CDMA are just different systems in general. There are differences with both but R Proffitt said it best, the end user (customer) should see no difference if things are done correctly. GSM stands for Global System for Mobile and not what was mentioned before. It is just like different strokes for different folks as far as those 2 systems are concerned. I am sure that a lot of people would argue that CDMA is better than GSM and vice versa but as far as the end user is concerned they are the same. I am just trying not to confuse the issue is all. From experience in the industry I can say that Verizon does have the best network coverage. Take in mind this is a nonbiased opinion because I am in the industry now but I dont sell Verizon. Also take in mind that Verizon could be horrible in the area that you need to use it. It is combo between network and phone you use though. I use T-Mobile for my person cell and Nextel for my work cell. I switched phones 8 months ago with T-mobile and I unfortunately saw a decrease in signal strength at my house with my new phone. Now take in mind that both phones were used on T-mobile so that should tell you something. Or you can look at this way. Your tires on your car may increase performance but over all it is the engine etc. that determines performance. So if the coverage of a carrier is bad then a great phone will not help all that much but it could help a tiny little bit. Get it?

I've used my GSM phone (Nokia 6100 900/1800/1900) extensively here in the US, but have actually have had better coverage/signal strength 'elsewhere.' I did a test a while back where my phone signal strength was better standing on the great wall of china (badaling) than at home in San Jose, CA. GSM. So, as others have stated. think of how you want to use your phone/service, and buy accordingly. Verizon and Sprint still seem to have the best coverage here in the US, but, IMHO, GSM is the way to go for looking beyond our borders.