GSM Cell phones

[Handruin]

I'm out of the loop on cell phone technology. Is GSM good compared to CDMA, TDMA...etc? I'm hearing that TDMA is going away in the next few years.

Right now I have AT&T wireless (I believe using TDMA) and I'm looking to buy a new phone for Laura and possibly myself. (she also has AT&T) Currently she gets a crappy signal in many places and I believe it may be her aging Nokia phone. She's had it at least 3 years now I believe.

Both of us don't really want a phone with frills, just long talk time and a good connection, and possibly a flip phone. Motorola T721 utilizes GSM, but I'm worried it won't work if the phone isn't in a GSM enabled area.

Anyone else buy a new phone recently that went through this decision? I'm also considering switching to Verizon who I believe uses CDMA. I've been reading discussions that it's worth sticking with CDMA for better coverage.

 

[blakerwry]

I've got a cheap Verizon LG phone (model VX3000 or something). It gets great reception and I haven't put it on the charger in over a week and I think I still have 1/2-3/4 power.

No frills, easy to read screen... I'm absolutely pleased.

 

[Tannin]

Where is James when you want him?

At the risk of making a complete fool of myself, I think it works like this:

CDMA has marginally better signal propagation and is preffered for remote areas (e.g., the Australian outback).

GSM has significantly better systems to cope with high numbers of calls in a restricted area (i.e., cities).

In Europe and most of the rest of the world, GSM is the standard. (It was invented in Europe.)

In the USA, CDMA is the standard. (CDMA was invented in the US.)

In Australia, GSM is the standard, and the vast majority of handsets are GSM, but CDMA is preffered in the outback. Once you leave the coast and the major population centres, CDMA coverage is very poor - but GSM coverage doesn't exist at all.

But I could be completely wrong about any or all of the above.

 

[flagreen]

The office supplied me with a new cell phone recently - Nextel i90c. Pretty nice phone and excellent coverage at least here in Florida. Connects to the net, runs Java, it's a radio phone too. So far me likes.

 

[Howell]

Work has provide me with a Verizon phone. Every once in a while they suggest that we punch a code into the phone and the phone will update itself with any new towers that have been added since the last time.

It is my understanding that other phones can be reprogrammed too but they need to be taken in.

 

[Fushigi]

Work has provide me with a Verizon phone. Every once in a while they suggest that we punch a code into the phone and the phone will update itself with any new towers that have been added since the last time.

It is my understanding that other phones can be reprogrammed too but they need to be taken in.

Was that a firmware update, by chance? I've never heard of a phone needed to be updated to find new towers. My ancient Sprint phone, a Samsung SCH-8500, did it by hitting *2 and the phone updated itself, power cycled automatically, and was going again. I didn't even know it needed the update; *2 is the Sprint service # and it detected that before I talked to a tech. My Treo 300 that I had earlier this year was updated once, but since it's also a Palm Pilot the updated was handled through synching with my PC.

I currently use a Handspring Treo 600 and love it. With Palm OS 5 it's also an MP3 player and runs boatloads of Palm OS apps. I can also VPN into work and run a Terminal Services client to control Windows boxes, regular telnet for other stuff like the AS/400, and get office & personal email. Even the little on-board camera is handy at times. CDMA version for Sprint; GSM for other carriers.

Of course, it's not a no-frills phone like you want, but it's the first really good convergence device and reduces the amount of stuff I have to carry. It's been making top-gadgets-of-2003 lists.

My wife is using a Samsung A100 or A300; I don't remember which. That's a no-frills phone, but it works just fine for her.

Nextel around Chicago is very hit or miss. Some places it works well; many others it simply doesn't work at all. While I suppose the chirp-talk could be useful, I found the lag time during conversations to be outrageously long. (IOW when the speaker says something it takes upwards of a full second before the listener hears it)

CDMA is, for the most part, only really used by Sprint any more. Most other carriers are going GSM. CDMA won't really work outside the US; GSM can. CDMA has higher data rates than GSM; GSM supposedly is slightly better quality for voice. CDMA uses a stronger signal and thus has about 15-20% less battery life than a comparable GSM phone (based on the Treo 600's est. talk time of 5 hours on CDMA and 6 hours on GSM).

The long and the short of it is this: If going Sprint, get CDMA; otherwise go GSM. Also make sure it's a dual- or tri-mode phone so it can fall back to other carriers if the normal network is unavailable.

 

[Pradeep]

With Verizon, you need to hit a code combo to update the PRLs (Preferred Roaming Lists). This is so the phone knows who to roam to when not on the Verizon towers. The benefit of updating the lists is not apparent for most people, it only effects small areas where cell companies are changing ownership etc. I believe most other companies can do this seamlessly over-the-air.

Doug: GSM is a great tech, but unfortunateley coverage in many parts of the US is abysmal. AT&T and T-mobile are moving to GSM, and Cingular phones can use dual mode (analog plus GSM digital). But compared to the existing coverage by Verizon etc, they have a few years to go. Unless you really need to have seamless romaing in other countries I would skip GSM for now.

Honestly it depends on the conditions where you live, I would try a Verizon phone and if you don't like it return it within 14 days for a pro-rata refund. They also have BroadbandAccess, basically Internet via the cell phone modem, if you get a phone from Verizon then make sure it is compatible with that. Verizon currently has unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes on it's 39.99 Family Share plans and up, with $20 per extra line. So for $59.99 you could have unlimited mobile-to-mobile for your wife and yourself, and something like 400 shared anytime and unlimited night and weekends. Apparently the LG VX4400 is the best right now as it supports older analog areas as well as digital.

Unfortunately the greatest and latest phones do come out for GSM first, given the huge world market. BTW in the US they are trying to push GSM 850, which is of course completely diff frequencies compared to the existing GSM 900, 1800, 1900. But I guess with the proliferation of 900MHz wireless phones GSM 900 would never work here. So for GSM users, look out for upcoming quad-band GSM phone, which should allow you to use it here and overseas. Plus the lower frequencies should allow better building penetration.

www.howardforums.com has a bunch of info about cell phones and networks.

 

[Howell]

Yeah, you hit *228 to update the PRL. I believe Verizon does this because they have cobbled-together tower networks instead of a single unified network like Sprint.

 

[Fushigi]

I stand corrected. Take Pradeep's comments on GSM over mine.

On the cel phone modem issue, the Treo (as with any internet-accessible Palm) supports PDAnet which lets it be a PC modem when hooked up to the sync cable. I haven't tried it, but intend to at some point. Nice option to have when travelling with the laptop.

That PRL thing just sounds goofy to me. :wink:

 

[Handruin]

It seems like CDMA may be the way to go. I don't need to get GSM, but I didn't want to get stuck with a service that will be phased out. (such as TDMA from AT&T)

There is no plans for over-sea usage, that would be bonus, but by no means needed. If GSM can be troublesome due to coverage, then I'll want to skip out on it.

I'm likely to avoid sprint because of my past sprint phone. My cell phone rarely had a connection and would cut out on me constantly unless I was on a major highway. I couldn't use it at home or inside most buildings. However, when I had a connection, the signal quality was very good. Now, this could only be my area that has poor sprint cell tower coverage, but nonetheless, I'd like to avoid that problem again if it means skipping GSM until it is more widely used in the US.

 

[blakerwry]

hmpf, i stand corrected, phone hasn't been charged in over a week and still has full to 3/4ths battery life. it has been off for maybe 24 hours of that week.

 

[ddrueding]

My current Verizon phone is a LG VX10, I'm quite happy with it. No games, but it is a flip-phone with an external LCD display.

I also have a Nextel i733 which absolutely kicks ass. Color screen, GPS (with on-screen readout for location, speed, altitude, etc) and some other cool stuff. Not what you were looking for, but it is quite awesome.[/url]

 

[e_dawg]

Three of the best websites on cell phones around:

http://www.arcx.com/sites/ - yes, this is dedicated to the Greater Toronto Area in Canada, but many of the phones are used with other carriers in the US. This guy is a stickler for RF performance (sensitivity/reception) and sound quality.

http://www.howardchui.com - pays a bit more attention to the features and menus than to the performance, but a fairly comprehensive resource

http://www.mobiledia.com/index.html - not quite as comprehensive as the other two, but I still find it to be a useful resource

Regarding CDMA vs. GSM. CDMA's main advantage comes from its high spectral efficiency and call carrying capacity, as CDMA uses some kind of spread-spectrum technique and allows many calls to be stacked on the same frequency (called frequency reuse). While CDMA has a slight edge in signal reach, GSM is now available in the 800 MHz spectrum -- all things being equal, lower frequencies allow for longer signal propagation. So 800 MHz GSM may allow for the same or better reach than CDMA at 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz frequencies.

Check out Steve's S.Ontario Cell Phone Page (top) for more info; of particular interest is this article on CDMA vs. TDMA and GSM.

 

[e_dawg]

I forgot to add that the high spectral efficiency of CDMA is meaningful to the wireless service providers, because they can service more users at a lower level of capital investment. It is not, however, as meaningful to you, the consumer.

 

[Pradeep]

Well I finally dragged the wife to the Verizon store to upgrade her old phone, and to get me a new one, to add as a Family Talk line. Turns out that she forgot to tell me that the old Motrola v60 took a three story dive off a parking lot whilst she was running a code. Anyway it was at the end of it's life. Got her a v60S, basically the same format but nice speakerphone etc. Got myself a Samsung a530, nice and small, with external colour LCD. And a data connection kit to suit. I've given up on using my Ericsson T39 in the USA for many years to come.

So right now I'm using the cell to connect, getting at least twice the speed of my POS 26k dial up modem. If I'm correct in the billing I get unlimited nights and weekends usage.

It's like going to broadband again Suck #hit Telsluts!

 

[The JoJo]

...running a code

???
Is she a police officer?

 

[Pradeep]

A nurse. Code being when someones goes into cardiac arrest.

We just watched American Wedding the other day, she could pretend to be a cop anytime

 

[Pradeep]

Or when they stop breathing.