GSM vs. CDMA: GSM Expands Lead in Americas

[Kris Kumar]

http://www.betanews.com/article/GSM_Expands_Lead_in_Americas/1157052101

"GSM has taken a majority share in North America, according to data released Thursday by industry group 3G Americas. As of the end of the second quarter of 2006, GSM had added 100 million new customers over the past year to end the period with a 51 percent share. The technology's share grew 13 percent over the past year, further solidifying its lead as the top wireless technology. The group pointed to CDMA's loss of momentum in key countries like Brazil as a reason for GSM's growth, as well as increasing numbers of CDMA operators transitioning to what has become the de facto global standard."



As a GSM supporter, I am happy to announce this news. I would like to see more investment be made by the carriers and device manufacturers in the GSM market. ;-) Wish the article had provided some numbers in terms of subscribers using GSM in the States and around the world. Does anyone know where we can find those numbers? Getting back to GSM, I like it because it is a not a proprietary system and I benefit from global roaming. But for someone else, the coast to coast coverage in the States is more important and would prefer CDMA. The thing that I don't like about GSM is the multiple bands that the handsets must support to enable global roaming; wish the device manufacturers would make Quad-band a standard on all their models.

[Kris Kumar]

http://www.betanews.com/article/GSM_Expands_Lead_in_Americas/1157052101

"GSM has taken a majority share in North America, according to data released Thursday by industry group 3G Americas. As of the end of the second quarter of 2006, GSM had added 100 million new customers over the past year to end the period with a 51 percent share. The technology's share grew 13 percent over the past year, further solidifying its lead as the top wireless technology. The group pointed to CDMA's loss of momentum in key countries like Brazil as a reason for GSM's growth, as well as increasing numbers of CDMA operators transitioning to what has become the de facto global standard."



As a GSM supporter, I am happy to announce this news. I would like to see more investment be made by the carriers and device manufacturers in the GSM market. ;-) Wish the article had provided some numbers in terms of subscribers using GSM in the States and around the world. Does anyone know where we can find those numbers? Getting back to GSM, I like it because it is a not a proprietary system and I benefit from global roaming. But for someone else, the coast to coast coverage in the States is more important and would prefer CDMA. The thing that I don't like about GSM is the multiple bands that the handsets must support to enable global roaming; wish the device manufacturers would make Quad-band a standard on all their models.

[Stinger]

I'm using GSM because I don't get a choice here in the UK.

I think I'd still choose GSM if I had the choice. There's a better selection of (Smart)phones for GSM and I'm not very fond of Qualcomm's business practices.

I can't remember where I read it, but GSM recently celebrated it's 1 billionth subscriber. That's a lot of potential brain cancer!

[Jerry Raia]

I would fall into the "Both" category.

[scottb]

I admit I didn't pay as much attention as I should have in school, but I don't know when Brail became part of North America!

Seriously, I am amongst those whom uses what works. I've tried Cingular service and it's vey spotty where I live. The basic rule in my neighborhood is if you want service in your house, you need Verizon or Alltel. The GSM coverage here is all 1900mHz and doesn't seem to penetrate well. It will work outside my house, but not inside.

Regarding the poll, wouldn't it be a bit skewed on this forum since there seem to be a lot more GSM Smartphones than CDMA? VZW only has one, count 'em, one WM Smartphone.

[Jerry Raia]

Originally Posted by scottb

Regarding the poll, wouldn't it be a bit skewed on this forum since there seem to be a lot more GSM Smartphones than CDMA? VZW only has one, count 'em, one WM Smartphone.

Well to be fair they did have the i600. Not current but quite a few here still have them.

[scottb]

Originally Posted by Jerry Raia

Well to be fair they did have the i600. Not current but quite a few here still have them.

True, I have two of them. 8O These are my spares. I was only taking current models into account.