CDMA vs GSM (from CNET)

[Looselips]

from CNET:

Q: What exactly is the difference between CDMA and GSM, and how does that translate to real-world functionality?

A: You could write a book describing the technical differences between the two technologies, but I'll spare you the gritty details by describing how these variations may influence your mobile shopping decisions. In the most general sense, CDMA sends wireless signals in a series of unique codes, while GSM divides signals into a series of individual time slots (for more information, see the glossary in our quick guide to 3G). To you, that means a few things. CDMA networks tend to have more capacity so that more callers can use the network at one time, and they tend do a better job during handoffs, when your call is passed from one tower to another. CDMA also has more widespread coverage in the United States, especially when you count analog roaming, and offers more stateside high-speed data networks. Finally--and I know I'm opening a Pandora's box here--CDMA supporters, who are likely to be the most vociferous defenders, usually argue that their technology offers better call clarity. Keep in mind, though, that it's not necessarily a fact since individual call quality is a matter of opinion, and it depends on a multitude of factors that can be beyond your control.

On the other hand, GSM has its own advantages. GSM's advocates argue that because it is a newer technology (though it is based on the older TDMA networks), it's better equipped for the conversion to 3G. Also, GSM is more widely used than CDMA, with service available in more countries around the globe. CDMA is adding regions as time goes on, but if want a true world phone, GSM is your choice. GSM also uses a SIM card, so it's much easier to switch your phone number and your contacts between handsets. And speaking of phones, GSM phones usually require less battery power than CDMA, and at least in the United States, the GSM carriers (Cingular and T-Mobile) have a more varied selection of phones that include such higher-end features as Bluetooth than do CDMA providers Sprint and Verizon.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3504_7-6224215-1.html?tag=nl.e723

[sneak]

I personally think its not necessary to compare the two. GSM will eventually turn into WCDMA (if I remember correctly), and I'm sure CDMA will change, too.

Clearly if you want to travel internationally GSM is the way to go. For data, right now CDMA is the way, as well as for roaming.

I like my phone selection with GSM better, but there are some nice CDMA phones in the pipe.

[topher694]

The battery part is backwards... CDMA requires less power.

[HiTEC]

Easier to go to 3G with GSM? Isn't that backwards too??

In order for GSM to go 3G, they need to dump the TDMA air interface and totally CDMA to the CDMA air interface (WCDMA).

[tkrandall]

GSM is newer? Huh?

[topher694]

You're both right, I missed those. CDMA is newer, and CDMA is a much easier transition to 3G.

[slffl]

Well I'll be the first to say that there is a definent difference in call clarity and quality between the two technologies. Whenever I talk to someone using Cingular or Tmobile I am barely able to make out what they are saying because of the break-ups and static. Sprint quality has been much, much better.

The only thing I'm missing right now is the sweet technology part. I really want a super thin phone, but I don't see sprint or verizon getting one anytime soon.

[wordpowa]

Wirelessly posted (i had no other choice.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

cdma isn't on time at all. the service is there but the revolutionary phone technology isn't. thats my main beef with sprint. being limited to thier poor selection of phones.

[fl00d_pr0z]

What kinda "Compairison" is that ? CMDA is newer as far as I know, and I thought also as said above, CMDA used less battery life.

[Matt]

Wirelessly posted (SHARP-TM-150/1.0 Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.2.6.c.2.102 (GUI) MMP/1.0)

The battery part is backwards... CDMA requires less power.

Perhaps, but I have yet to feel much heat from my gsm phone. Even while charging. It's all subjective.

[topher694]

Wirelessly posted (SHARP-TM-150/1.0 Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.2.6.c.2.102 (GUI) MMP/1.0)



Perhaps, but I have yet to feel much heat from my gsm phone. Even while charging. It's all subjective.

Yeah, I've never got that whole phone heating up thing, I've not sure if the it's the phone's construction or what, but my old TDMA phone used to get HOT.

[slffl]

I'm almost positive GSM uses less power unless CDMA has made some kind of changes in the past few years.

[topher694]

I'm almost positive GSM uses less power unless CDMA has made some kind of changes in the past few years.

CDMA is designed to work just above the "noise floor" meaning it uses as little power as it can, the most power a CDMA phone will put out is around 0.2 watts and usually less. In GSM I think the minimum the phones put out is 0.2. Heck the max power a CDMA (tower) antenna puts out is 15 watts (which supports many more users than a single GSM antenna) and I think GSM antennas usually max out at around 100 watts or so.

[wordpowa]

Wirelessly posted (i had no other choice.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

fact remains cdma phones are in a sense... boring.

[slffl]

Well what about the phones? Why is it that GSM phones can be smaller and have smaller batteries yet have more talk and standby time? As well as some phones need to have special designs (ie Treo 600) because of the radiation coming from the phone.

CDMA is designed to work just above the "noise floor" meaning it uses as little power as it can, the most power a CDMA phone will put out is around 0.2 watts and usually less. In GSM I think the minimum the phones put out is 0.2. Heck the max power a CDMA (tower) antenna puts out is 15 watts (which supports many more users than a single GSM antenna) and I think GSM antennas usually max out at around 100 watts or so.

[topher694]

Well what about the phones? Why is it that GSM phones can be smaller and have smaller batteries yet have more talk and standby time? As well as some phones need to have special designs (ie Treo 600) because of the radiation coming from the phone.
I'm not very familiar with GSM phones, even so, I'm not aware that GSM phones are on average smaller or get better talk/standby time... if the phones are smaller it could be because of all the extra stuff jammed into most CDMA phones for data/accessories. Some CDMA phones are pretty small.

The radiation stuff is crap. For both CDMA and GSM. Again I've not heard anything specific for the treo b4, but if there is some special design to block radiation it is probably for some function other than phone calls, or just some meaningless thing they put in there to advertise to people that buy into this crap. Here's a link to an interesting article that addresses both the radiation stuff and the power that GSM/CDMA phones put out (old, but still applies):
http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/07/CellPhoneDangers.shtml

[ocelectroboi]

The battery part is backwards... CDMA requires less power.

That might be the case but after using Cingular (GSM) and Sprint I know my cingular phone could go a few days with one charge and all my sprint phones are almost or have died on me by the end of the day.

[ocelectroboi]

Well I'll be the first to say that there is a definent difference in call clarity and quality between the two technologies. Whenever I talk to someone using Cingular or Tmobile I am barely able to make out what they are saying because of the break-ups and static. Sprint quality has been much, much better.

The only thing I'm missing right now is the sweet technology part. I really want a super thin phone, but I don't see sprint or verizon getting one anytime soon.

Also disagree with this. Yes GSM has a backround static noise but the actual voice is so much clearer than a CDMA phone...CDMA phones sounds like people mumble their words together, and my freidns and I find ourslef saying "what" a lot..eventhouse on Verizon that are x att users say the same.

[ocelectroboi]

I love sprints data! and thats why im still here.

[topher694]

That might be the case but after using Cingular (GSM) and Sprint I know my cingular phone could go a few days with one charge and all my sprint phones are almost or have died on me by the end of the day.


You have readylink? If not do you have it disabled? My phone lasts several days between charges. Readylink/Data use up lots of battery life.

[ocelectroboi]

You have readylink? If not do you have it disabled? My phone lasts several days between charges. Readylink/Data use up lots of battery life.

I just put readylink on my account last night..and yeah thats a joke..u can never get incoming calls cause the vision arrows dont stop flashing... I have a sanyo 5500 ... I think my bad battery life is cause there is never a good signal I can sit there and watch the bars go from full to looking for service in most places... I think i just need to move closer to a tower :rolleyes:

But yeah GSM phones last longer on their charge.


..i wonder how hard it is to get sprint to park a moble tower outside my house and work

[topher694]

I just put readylink on my account last night..and yeah thats a joke..u can never get incoming calls cause the vision arrows dont stop flashing... I have a sanyo 5500 ... I think my bad battery life is cause there is never a good signal I can sit there and watch the bars go from full to looking for service in most places... I think i just need to move closer to a tower :rolleyes:


yeah, that would do it.



..i wonder how hard it is to get sprint to park a moble tower outside my house and work

They are called COWs (Cell On Wheels), I love that name... I wonder what they would call a mobile Switch? ;)

[FloorMatt]

Wirelessly posted (i had no other choice.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

fact remains cdma phones are in a sense... boring.

You actually mean........the CDMA phones that make it to the U.S. are in a sense, boring.........don't you? Don't forget.....CDMA is not just used here.

[JimmyConway]

CDMA is boring compared to all those hot phones at T-Mobile and Cingular!!!

[ocelectroboi]

yeah, that would do it.




They are called COWs (Cell On Wheels), I love that name... I wonder what they would call a mobile Switch? ;)

I live in chino, ca and this city is known for their cow's..whats another 2 or 3 COWs ?? :lol:

[ocelectroboi]

CDMA is boring compared to all those hot phones at T-Mobile and Cingular!!!

I think Cingular/tmobile / gsm phones look cheep and feel cheep.. like a toy. But i do agree CDMA phones are kinda not real stylish

[psychojoe3354]

Cingular and T-mobile phones also break real easily. I've had my first Sprint phone since 2001 and it's still going! Cingular phones (the ones they offer) are really junkie outside of the s710 and the razr. The charge does last longer on gsm though, my 7400 is dead in 1 day.

[calrath]

GSM has better battery life because it has a less complex scheme of modulation and a more basic voice codec. The factor that uses the most battery power in CDMA phones is the powerful processor required to handle the advanced vocoders, spread the transmission across the channel, and monitor the transmit power level 800 times a second and adjust it.

[psychojoe3354]

Cingular and T-mobile phones also break real easily. I've had my first Sprint phone since 2001 and it's still going! Cingular phones (the ones they offer) are really junkie outside of the s710 and the razr. The charge does last longer on gsm though, my 7400 is dead in 1 day.

[Chris4434]

GSM phones tend to have better battery life and be smaller than CDMA phones. I guess its just a tradeoff between the two technologies.

[BTSmith]

The battery part is backwards... CDMA requires less power.

Absolutely not true. As a long time user of both as well as someone who follows the phones and technology I have to say you are wrong. CDMA towers may require less power, and cdma phones may trasmit at slighlty lower power, but cdma phones use way more power...hence their marketly shorter batrery life.

I like Sprint, but then again I originally chose them becasue they were the first GSM in the states and I had just come back from living in urope and using GSM.

I travel an aweful lot, adn I have to say that US consumers have NO idea of how far advanced GSM phones are in features.

I had a nokia 9000 over eight years ago. Yea...1996! There was nothing approaching that phone in cdma until years and years later.

Today you can get literally 100's of GSM models. It is incredible how cutting edge they are.

I dont even want to get into the advantage of sim cards otehr than to say anyone who has used one to switch phone knows. (imagine having your treo as well as a $30 phone to take to the beach, or an utra small to take jogging, and being able to switch anytime instantly).

I also challange the assertion that GSM quaility not par with CDMA, I doubt a user of both would say so.

I am glad the US went with multiple standards, I think CDMA with data is a good development. But I would be cautious about taking too much stock on a CDMA oriented board knocking GSM.

That's my $0.02

[wordpowa]

Wirelessly posted (i had no other choice.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

Wirelessly posted (i had no other choice.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

fact remains cdma phones are in a sense... boring.

You actually mean........the CDMA phones that make it to the U.S. are in a sense, boring.........don't you? Don't forget.....CDMA is not just used here.

Yes, thats exactly what i mean.

[wordpowa]

Wirelessly posted (i had no other choice.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

Gimme A Kiddi Or An Ntt Docomo And Ill Run With It.

[topher694]

Absolutely not true. As a long time user of both as well as someone who follows the phones and technology I have to say you are wrong. CDMA towers may require less power, and cdma phones may trasmit at slighlty lower power, but cdma phones use way more power...hence their marketly shorter batrery life.

I like Sprint, but then again I originally chose them becasue they were the first GSM in the states and I had just come back from living in urope and using GSM.

I travel an aweful lot, adn I have to say that US consumers have NO idea of how far advanced GSM phones are in features.

I had a nokia 9000 over eight years ago. Yea...1996! There was nothing approaching that phone in cdma until years and years later.

Today you can get literally 100's of GSM models. It is incredible how cutting edge they are.

I dont even want to get into the advantage of sim cards otehr than to say anyone who has used one to switch phone knows. (imagine having your treo as well as a $30 phone to take to the beach, or an utra small to take jogging, and being able to switch anytime instantly).

I also challange the assertion that GSM quaility not par with CDMA, I doubt a user of both would say so.

I am glad the US went with multiple standards, I think CDMA with data is a good development. But I would be cautious about taking too much stock on a CDMA oriented board knocking GSM.

That's my $0.02


I don't care about phones, features, battery size/life, cutting edge or any of that. Bottom line CDMA requires far less power than GSM, period. This stuff was my job. If the phones need more power for other features, or to use it more often, then that's getting into another area that is harder to quantify.

[larry]

Also disagree with this. Yes GSM has a backround static noise but the actual voice is so much clearer than a CDMA phone...CDMA phones sounds like people mumble their words together, and my freidns and I find ourslef saying "what" a lot..eventhouse on Verizon that are x att users say the same.

CDMA phones filter out the background noise better. This is an advantage when talking in noisy places or driving on the freeway with the windows down. But I agree, I often find myself saying "what" a lot. But I also think the newer CDMA phones don't sound as good as the older ones did.

[larry]

I haven't heard this subject talked about much lately. Does anyone think that the CDMA slot cycle system is a disadvantage compared to GSM? It often takes 2 or 3 rings on the caller's end before our Sprint phones starts ringing. This in theory could be the cause of calls rolling to vociemail before the phone is found in time to deliver an incoming call. Here in my area of So. Cal Sprint is plagued by this problem.

[wordpowa]

Wirelessly posted (rather have a kiddi: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

as i said before... if i could afford cingular i'd be with them. but, that isn't the circumstance so i am stuck. I try to make the best out of it though.

[Jake]

Wirelessly posted (rather have a kiddi: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

as i said before... if i could afford cingular i'd be with them. but, that isn't the circumstance so i am stuck. I try to make the best out of it though.

Cingular is a lot more expensive but I would hope that the price of plans will soon come down, though the phones are much cheaper with more features. One of the reasons I switched is in about a month in a half- two months I will have CABLE TV on my nokia!!!

[wordpowa]

Wirelessly posted (would rather have gsm.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

Wirelessly posted (rather have a kiddi: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

as i said before... if i could afford cingular i'd be with them. but, that isn't the circumstance so i am stuck. I try to make the best out of it though.

Cingular is a lot more expensive but I would hope that the price of plans will soon come down, though the phones are much cheaper with more features. One of the reasons I switched is in about a month in a half- two months I will have CABLE TV on my nokia!!!

Get the f!!! outta here... are you serious?

[FloorMatt]

I would assume you are speaking of MobiTV? Because that's the only "MM" (phone that can stream the video like Sprint's MM phones) phone for Cingular.

[CoreyTheGent]

Cingular is a lot more expensive but I would hope that the price of plans will soon come down...If anything, the price plans of Cingular will continue to be more expensive. With their new position at #1 comes exclusivity, followed by more expensive price plans. I believe a hike has either just happened or will be coming early June. The data will get slightly more competitive, however, with MEdiaNet or whatever dropping to 19.99 for unlimited use.

[meyerweb]

I've tried TDMA, GSM, Sprint Spectrum and Sprint PCS. My wife had, until recently, a Verizon CDMA phone. As far as I'm concerned the supposed advantages of GSM don't come close to making up for poor sound quality.

And no one's mentioned that GSM phones create WAY more interference with other electronic devices. My GSM phone interfered with any RF device nearby every time I got a call. What crap.

Switching SIMs is convenient, but it only takes a couple of minutes to switch phones with Sprint CS, if it's really that important to you.

The only reason I'd consider buying a GSM phone/service is if I were traveling overseas a lot, and my company paid my roaming charges. (If I have to buy/rent a local SIM to avoid roaming charges, I might as well just rent a local phone when I'm there).

[ocelectroboi]

Wirelessly posted (rather have a kiddi: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

as i said before... if i could afford cingular i'd be with them. but, that isn't the circumstance so i am stuck. I try to make the best out of it though.


you and me both! :lol:

[Strider420]

@topher694:

When you say CDMA uses far less power than GSM, what do you mean?

You are obviously not talking about phones or battery life, so why should we even care? It's obviously not relevant to people in the real world...

GSM phones use less power than CDMA phones. Take a look at SonyEricsson's handsets. They can stream multimedia, take 2.0 Megapixel images, do 3G video calling and all have far better battery life (both talk time and standby) than any Sprint or Verizon phone.

[topher694]

@topher694:

When you say CDMA uses far less power than GSM, what do you mean?

You are obviously not talking about phones or battery life, so why should we even care? It's obviously not relevant to people in the real world...

GSM phones use less power than CDMA phones. Take a look at SonyEricsson's handsets. They can stream multimedia, take 2.0 Megapixel images, do 3G video calling and all have far better battery life (both talk time and standby) than any Sprint or Verizon phone.

I mean that the CDMA technology, which is what I thought we were talking about, uses less power to do its job than GSM. Each antenna of the towers on CDMA uses a max of 15 watts (at 1900mhz) and GSM uses a max of 100 watts. CDMA phones use a max of 200mW and average about 25mW and GSM phones max at 1000mW and average about 200mW. Both of those figures, to me, mean that CDMA uses far less power. That just part of how it was designed.

As far as battery life goes, that should translate into better battery life for the same battery on a CDMA phone vs a GSM. I have never done or seen a study that compares the two. Now if you are saying that GSM phones get better talk and standby time based solely on the manufacturer specs, I'd be suspicious... I never really believe those kinds of things (ie cars advertised gas mileage). If it is based on real world experience then it is difficult to truly measure, it could simply be subjective... people are told GSM battery life is better so that's what they notice regardless of whether it is true or not. Or there is another factor other than the air interface power requirements that I am unaware of... which is entirely possible. Or manufacturers just put bigger batteries in GSM phones ;)

[slffl]

Well from my treo days, the GSM treos always seemed to have the better battery life according to others. I never owned both though.

[kylejack]

Wirelessly posted (would rather have gsm.: Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)



Get the f!!! outta here... are you serious?

Already available on Sprint through MobiTV.

[PoisonEye]

I doubt the talk time is better on a GSM phone than a CDMA phone, given their batteries have the same MAh rating (milliamp-hours). Standby time might be affected by GSM's feature known as paging subchannels. I'm not sure if CDMA has a feature like this, but judging by what I do know about how CDMA works, I'd say it doesn't. Basically, GSM phones only listen for a page (new call, SMS, etc) on their particular subchannel, rather than listening on all channels. So the phone can be idle and not receiving/decoding anything say, 7/8 of the time if you had 8 paging subchannels. That's save on standby time. I think CDMA phones must constantly be listening for pages. If someone knows the truth of this, please throw it out there. Thanks.

[topher694]

I doubt the talk time is better on a GSM phone than a CDMA phone, given their batteries have the same MAh rating (milliamp-hours). Standby time might be affected by GSM's feature known as paging subchannels. I'm not sure if CDMA has a feature like this, but judging by what I do know about how CDMA works, I'd say it doesn't. Basically, GSM phones only listen for a page (new call, SMS, etc) on their particular subchannel, rather than listening on all channels. So the phone can be idle and not receiving/decoding anything say, 7/8 of the time if you had 8 paging subchannels. That's save on standby time. I think CDMA phones must constantly be listening for pages. If someone knows the truth of this, please throw it out there. Thanks.

I think you're right, the sub-channels most likely are the difference. CDMA uses only one paging channel, but can do zone-based paging so the your phone isn't getting bombarded with pages. CDMA paging channel is usually set up to check for pages approximately every 5 seconds, this is what causes the delayed ring that people complain about in CDMA. I recently learned that CDMA vendors are going to be adding multiple paging channels in a future software release. That might then improve battery life, as well as the delayed ring issue, plus possibly some other issues as well like VM problems and such.

[Strider420]

All this techno mumbo-jumbo means nothing to me when I see my Sony phone (and to a certain extent, my Nokia) go 2 days no problem without a recharge when my Sanyo would be dead by early evening on the first day.

That is with NO change in web browsing or talking habits. If anything, I used the Sony phone more since it had more features.

Oh well, I guess you can't really notice it unless you actually use a GSM phone after having been on Sprint for such a long time :)

[ricedawg]

why can't Sprint put all the information that need to activate a phone onto a miniSD card and this would be similar to the SIMS card for GSM?

[FloorMatt]

why can't Sprint put all the information that need to activate a phone onto a miniSD card and this would be similar to the SIMS card for GSM?

It already exists for CDMA....(not as a miniSD, though) R-UIM (http://www.cdmatech.com/solutions/products/r-uim.jsp)

Sprint doesn't use it, of course.

[sneak]

Already available on Sprint through MobiTV.
Sprint isn't the only carrier with MobiTV. Cingular has offered it for a while, too. You may wanna be careful before making assumptions. Goooooogle!!!

[gsmith462]

topher694, is that a sprint tower you have on your avatar? :p

[topher694]

topher694, is that a sprint tower you have on your avatar? :p

lol, nope. I'm not sure who's it is (there was more than likely several carriers on it), but it is real. It came from a contact we had with a tower building company.

[wl_lifestyle]

Hey topher694, just so you know, on basic knowledge of GSM and CDMA, CDMA would win out with lower power consumption during a call or on standby. However GSM has evolved about every 6 months to a year to release newer power use techniques. For example even comparing the same models that Nokia makes for Sprint and Cingular shows the differences. the 3205 (Sprint) and 3200 (Cingular) are the same phone, one setup for CDMA, one for GSM. However the talk times are quite a bit different. 2.35 hours for the CDMA and 4 hours for the GSM. That is mainly due to it using AMS, which basically puts the phone into standby when you are not talking, but the other person is. Also their are many changes they have made to improve standby time. Which those numbers are hard to prove besides what a manufacturer says. I can say that my Nokia 6620 will put anything Sprint or Verizon has to offer to shame. I unfortunately have to say that GSM is a better product overall just because of the sheer MILLIONS more customers it has to improve its product for. The only downside is the aging Codec they are using. However as Cingular rolls out its 3g system the new codec also rolls out. And voice quality is much improved on it.


For those of you that hate the "noise" that comes with a person talking on a GSM phone, thats because the mics are setup to be overly sensetive. Not really bad equipment, just annoying choice of how well the mic picks up everything.

[mcurtiss1970]

I've tried TDMA, GSM, Sprint Spectrum and Sprint PCS. My wife had, until recently, a Verizon CDMA phone. As far as I'm concerned the supposed advantages of GSM don't come close to making up for poor sound quality.

And no one's mentioned that GSM phones create WAY more interference with other electronic devices. My GSM phone interfered with any RF device nearby every time I got a call. What crap.

Switching SIMs is convenient, but it only takes a couple of minutes to switch phones with Sprint CS, if it's really that important to you.

The only reason I'd consider buying a GSM phone/service is if I were traveling overseas a lot, and my company paid my roaming charges. (If I have to buy/rent a local SIM to avoid roaming charges, I might as well just rent a local phone when I'm there).

and honestly, not being told what phone I can buy by my provider is a big plus as well.

[larry]

I recently learned that CDMA vendors are going to be adding multiple paging channels in a future software release. That might then improve battery life, as well as the delayed ring issue, plus possibly some other issues as well like VM problems and such.

:clap: That would be sweet! :wow:

[ocelectroboi]

I think you're right, the sub-channels most likely are the difference. CDMA uses only one paging channel, but can do zone-based paging so the your phone isn't getting bombarded with pages. CDMA paging channel is usually set up to check for pages approximately every 5 seconds, this is what causes the delayed ring that people complain about in CDMA. I recently learned that CDMA vendors are going to be adding multiple paging channels in a future software release. That might then improve battery life, as well as the delayed ring issue, plus possibly some other issues as well like VM problems and such.

HOW LONG TILL SPRINT DOES THIS? :eyeroll:

[topher694]

HOW LONG TILL SPRINT DOES THIS? :eyeroll:

Well I'm not sure, I think (I'll have to double check) that this was supposed to be a feature (for nortel) of MTX/NBSS 13.0. Sprint just upgraded it's nortel markets to 12.1. There is usually 6-12 months between software loads so if it's in 13 that would be the timeframe, plus a little time to get everything figured out and set up. I'm not sure where Lucent is with this, but Nortel and them are usually neck and neck with releasing this kinda stuff.

BTW the recent upgrade (as the all do) added some features. Most notably improvements to 1xRTT that should improve data speeds and efficiency a bit plus give carriers some new operational measurements that will give them a better handle on what is going on in their data networks.

[larry]

That's great. I only wish they would have done this a while ago.

[topher694]

Hey topher694, just so you know, on basic knowledge of GSM and CDMA, CDMA would win out with lower power consumption during a call or on standby.

Don't worry, I know ;)

That's what I've been talking about is the power requirements strictly for the air-interfaces of CDMA vs GSM. But I suppose that all most people really care about is their battery life, and there are other factors involved with that. I'm not as familar with GSM as I am with other systems because I've never worked with it. I have had the chance to work with 1900 & 800 CDMA and 800 TDMA & AMPS... CDMA is much easier to work with, in my opinion.

[ocelectroboi]

:haha: I want to work with CDMA Thats would be fun!
Im just obsesed..

Don't worry, I know ;)

That's what I've been talking about is the power requirements strictly for the air-interfaces of CDMA vs GSM. But I suppose that all most people really care about is their battery life, and there are other factors involved with that. I'm not as familar with GSM as I am with other systems because I've never worked with it. I have had the chance to work with 1900 & 800 CDMA and 800 TDMA & AMPS... CDMA is much easier to work with, in my opinion.

[topher694]

:haha: I want to work with CDMA Thats would be fun!
Im just obsesed..

This is for you ocelectroboi... it's easier to post pics here:

P_REV stands for Protocol Revision, you don't want to mess with that.

[savulescucostin]

Any of you know the difference in the to technologies in terms of radiation? From my experience, I have observed that CMDA phones do not influence TV, radio or speaker equipment (that annoying sound that appears just before you receive a call and the GSM phone is near one of those electronic devices). I don't know what that means, but do any of you know if it's good or bad? Anyways, I consider it good. But does it have to do anything with electromagnetic radiation which is bad for health?

[reemusk]

I personally think its not necessary to compare the two. GSM will eventually turn into WCDMA (if I remember correctly), and I'm sure CDMA will change, too.

Clearly if you want to travel internationally GSM is the way to go. For data, right now CDMA is the way, as well as for roaming.

I like my phone selection with GSM better, but there are some nice CDMA phones in the pipe.

one day it will be UMB. :)

[FloorMatt]

Any of you know the difference in the to technologies in terms of radiation? From my experience, I have observed that CMDA phones do not influence TV, radio or speaker equipment (that annoying sound that appears just before you receive a call and the GSM phone is near one of those electronic devices). I don't know what that means, but do any of you know if it's good or bad? Anyways, I consider it good. But does it have to do anything with electromagnetic radiation which is bad for health?

That seems to mainly occur the GSM 850MHz range, which is used by Cingular (for the most part, along with GSM 1900MHz).

I don't think it's very good if it causes a reaction from other electronics, but then again....who knows how bad it is. (I've been around phones when they have done that, too.....it really happens) It'll even affect a landline; I have talked with someone on a landline, while they were using their cell phone, and I heard the noise.

[aiwetir]

i just switched from tmo and now that someone revived this thread, i realize that i haven't had that little triplet sound come out of my computer before i get a call since i switched.

as a recent switcher, it's too bad i didn't get a razr cos that's what i had and i could just take the old battery and test them side by side.

i think that either i got used to gsm voice quality, or it was better for me. i find more interference and volume fluctuation with my fusic