wirless phone service...GSM/GPRS or CDMA?

[nosmohtac]

I have been waiting for the cost of data over wireless to come to a decent price. It may already be there for most of you, but not quite for me.
Some carriers, I will admit, have hit my mark, but there coverage area in my region flat out stinks.
I live in North Dakota, about 75 miles north of Fargo (ya..you betcha) :lol: , and we don't even have a GSM carrier in the region other than just around town.
I have been watching T-Mobile's web site for over a year now, and every time I go to the Minneapolis area, it shows that they cover my area as well. I keep getting my hopes up and call to see if I can sign up on one of their service plans, but they keep telling me they don't have coverage in my area. I keep telling them that their map on their website shows that they do, then they tell me they will have to have one of their techs fix the map. I go back to their site a few months later and it still shows coverage in my area, call them up, and nope the map is incorrect still.....

Am I wasting my time waiting for GSM/GPRS in my area or do the rest of you think CDMA is the way to stay?
My current carrier has Crappy data plans, but Verizon has excellent coverage in my area and from what I understand they have better data plans.

[Janak Parekh]

Am I wasting my time waiting for GSM/GPRS in my area or do the rest of you think CDMA is the way to stay?
For the short-term, I don't see GSM/GPRS hitting your area. You might want to bite the bullet for the moment and get a Verizon CDMA phone with data cable to which you can hook up your Pocket PC. You won't get a Bluetooth phone from Verizon just yet, though. (Sprint may be coming out with one RSN, but I don't know if they have coverage in your area.)

In the medium-term (e.g. next 6-18 months), you should watch the market closely -- since AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile are all expanding their GSM networks, it's possible you'll be covered sooner than later. (I presume you've already been watching AT&T and Cingular, right?)

Who's your current provider?

--janak

[nosmohtac]

I'm with Cellular One right now. You may not have heard of them on the east coast but they are fairly large in the western half of the country.

I have been watching AT&T but not Cingular. I'll start watching both. I haven't heard or seen anything on AT&T's plan with MSFT to be the first carrier to have nationwide GSM coverage in the US. Have you?

[blazingwolf]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Cingular and Cellular one the same company :?:

[PetiteFlower]

I think Cellular 1 got bought by Cingulair, at least out where I am. I guess they still exist in other parts of the country though.

Anyway...while we're on the subject, can someone please explain to me
1) what GSM/GPRS/CDMA stand for?
and
2) what the difference is?

[Janak Parekh]

I think Cellular 1 got bought by Cingulair, at least out where I am. I guess they still exist in other parts of the country though.
IIRC, CellularOne got bought out by either Verizon or AT&T in New York many years ago.

1) what GSM/GPRS/CDMA stand for?
GSM = Global Standard for Mobiles
GPRS = General Packet Radio Service
CDMA = Code Division Multiple Access

2) what the difference is?
The "correct" answer is very long. Put very short, there are different "air interfaces" via which your phone communicates. The two most predominant standards are TDMA and CDMA. TDMA is a circuit-based technology, while CDMA is a packet-based technology. CDMA has better spectral efficiency and is better designed for high-speed data, but TDMA has wider coverage in the world.

GSM is a standard promulgated by a number of large European telecom companies and the EU, and is available throughout the world. GSM uses a version of TDMA as its current air interface. GPRS is a service that rides on top of GSM's TDMA to provide data services on the circuit-based technology. GSM is, long-term, moving to a version of CDMA (although not the same one currently deployed in the US) as its air interface to better support 3G.

There's a lot more detail to it; try some Google searches or feel free to ask; but that's a start. :)

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

I have been watching AT&T but not Cingular. I'll start watching both. I haven't heard or seen anything on AT&T's plan with MSFT to be the first carrier to have nationwide GSM coverage in the US. Have you?
T-Mobile is the first nationwide GSM carrier, but they don't have the depth in rural areas that AT&T, Verizon & co do.

--janak

[PetiteFlower]

Ok maybe this question is a little more simple:

Which one of them does Sprint Vision use?

Thanks for the help though, I feel a LITTLE less clueless now!

[Janak Parekh]

Which one of them does Sprint Vision use?
Vision, as well as Verizon Express Network, uses 1xRTT CDMA. To be more precise, 1xRTT CDMA is an evolution of the initial US CDMA standard (which was called IS-95). 1xRTT improves spectral efficiency over IS-95, but more importantly, introduces high-speed packet data to the CDMA standard. It's the first of several steps to real high-speed CDMA; the next that's likely to be deployed in the US is 1xEV-DV, which has a potential of 3mbps (as opposed to 144kbps for 1xRTT).

Thanks for the help though, I feel a LITTLE less clueless now!
You always gotta start somewhere. :)

--janak

[Gremmie]

Participants in this forum may be interested in this post http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=87970

Everyone has heard RAM, ROM, CPU, etc., but you can always get someone to glaze over when you start talking about GPS/GPRS, CDMA, 1xRTT CDMA, etc.

UTMS anyone? :lol:

[Janak Parekh]

UTMS anyone? :lol:
Makes perfect sense to me :D

--janak