Thread
Poll: GSM vs. CDMA?
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Originally posted by tooki: Remember that the next-generation GSM is supposed to be based on CDMA technology, not the TDMA technology the current GSM standards use. |
It seems that WCDMA is going to be the dominant standard.
Personally, in reality I couldn't care less what standard becomes dominant as long as:
1) The phones are nice, but not overly expensive.
(I suspect initially they'll just be OK, and insanely expensive.)
2) The data service is fast.
(3G's 250 kbps - 2.0 Mbps is fast enough for me.)
3) The data service is cheap.
(I doubt it will be cheap, for quite some time to come.)
I have a 2.5G GSM/GPRS phone now and its 56 kbps is fine for occasional use. However, the cost of data services is astronomical. I get 500 KB a month for CAD$5 (~US$4), or else 5 MB for $25. That is of course useless for surfing. Unlimited access is $50. That's more than my home high-speed 1 Mbps internet access costs.
And it's even higher from a competing GSM provider, at $100 for 100 MB. No unlimited plan exists, so if you go over 100 MB, you have to pay extra... thru the teeth.
Eug's got his recordable DVD faq, I've got my 'What's What in Wireless' series I wrote.
What's What, part 2 covers CDMA, GSM, WCDMA, cdma2000, UMTS, and others.
What's What, part 2 covers CDMA, GSM, WCDMA, cdma2000, UMTS, and others.
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Originally posted by vmarks: Eug's got his recordable DVD faq, I've got my 'What's What in Wireless' series I wrote. |
J
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Originally posted by vmarks: Eug's got his recordable DVD faq, I've got my 'What's What in Wireless' series I wrote. What's What, part 2 covers CDMA, GSM, WCDMA, cdma2000, UMTS, and others. |
Great synthesis, Vic!
As for the UMTS adoption rate - in Europe (see Developer's post), - AFAIK the only "serious" current offering is the one by 3 - but their phones are not really ideal, not being OS X compatible, at least for now.
A future UMTS Treo (or Apple iPhone?) would, OTOH, be an almost ideal solution...
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Originally posted by vmarks: What's What, part 2 covers CDMA, GSM, WCDMA, cdma2000, UMTS, and others. |
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Originally posted by Eug: Yes, but GSM's successor is 3GSM (WCDMA) and it's different from the the most easily-implemented successor to CDMA (CDMA2000). |
I didn't say they were the same thing.
CDMA is a TECHNOLOGY, not a STANDARD. (There is a standard commonly referred to as "CDMA", but it's just one arbitrary implementation of said technology.) GSM is a standard.
GSM is based on TDMA (time division multiple access) technology. "CDMA" is based on CDMA technology (code division multiple access).
Next-generation GSM is ditching TDMA technology and adopting CDMA technology because it's more efficient.
GSM is not adopting the "CDMA" standard.
tooki