Why cdma is better than gsm.

[IOWA]

Now, you being from Chicagoooo, should be a firm supporter of the Union way. Don't you know that they aren't all bad? I am a very hard working union member. I know that to some that is an oxymoron, but it is the truth. Unions built this country, and gave/give many a very good living. They have raised the standard for many. We owe a lot to unions in the USA.

I can understand the reason for your jest, but just wanted to put my .02 out there.... And remember, we aren't all bad.

Oh I know you aren't all bad, but I believe most unions these days have exceeded their intended purpose and are operatining out of pure greed. Alot of people bring up the chicago angle with me, as I do lean both republican and conservative, but I don't classify myself as either. I'm my own party. (And believe me, it's a complicated thing! for a whole different thread!)

That being said, sorry if I offended you, but I was just making a comical play on todays' union image.



@Vihzel

Yes, HSDPA, HSUPA, and HSPA/HSPA+ Are completely separate from the GSM signal itself, and is often confused with GSM technology. In reality, GSM carriers 3G signals, are in fact, WCDMA/CDMA signals, and are being dual-casted, much like the current WiMax/CDMA dual cast Sprint is rolling out. That also explains the ability for voice + data on the GSM networks.

@ MRQS

Voice/SMS signals won't be dead until 3G is phased out =P

 

[330D]

No offense taken. I like a little discussion on the matter, truthfully. And while I don't think greed is the only motivating factor, I do agree that there are many unions that have outgrown their britches. Luckily, I belong to one that is for the good of it's members first and foremost, as it should be... and that knows its place in the scheme of things. We are not greed mongers, we are just trying to be the most highly skilled craftsman (most of us, anyway) that we can be, and be compensated appropriately for our professionalism.

There are always a few bad eggs that spoil the whole dozen, and unfortunately, they are always the ones that you hear or see.


I agree that unions may be outdated, but until we find a better way to regulate employers we still need them to promote safe and equitable workplaces, and to keep looking out for the good of the working man/ woman.

Alright, I will stop the hijack now. Thanks for the discussion...

 

[Ynomrah]

i love this thread <3

 

[Hrethgir]

If CDMA is better than GSM and has more bandwidth, then why does AT&T have faster data speeds than Verizon?

 

[TheBrit]

If CDMA is better than GSM and has more bandwidth, then why does AT&T have faster data speeds than Verizon?

Because they will have implemented their 3G using UMTS/HSDPA which sits alongside GSM. Look at previous posts in this thread - it is explained. It's a type of CDMA but a different implementation to what's being used by Sprint and Verizon.

As I said earlier:

GSM is the 'old' technology which is in the process of being replaced with UMTS in Europe and much of the world. GSM networks are changing over to it with the 2 systems running in parallel. GSM is 2G - UMTS (which is a CDMA system but not the same as the CDMA that Sprint (and some others) uses) is a 3G system. HSDPA is an upgrade to UMTS allowing faster data transfers in the same way that EDGE does the same for GSM.

GSM smart phones should be more accurately described GSM/UMTS smartphones as they use both technologies. They fall back to GSM when UMTS is not available. GSM is not being pulled at the moment (I suppose) because of the large number of GSM only handsets still in use.

And as IOWA said earlier:

HSDPA, HSUPA, and HSPA/HSPA+ Are completely separate from the GSM signal itself, and is often confused with GSM technology. In reality, GSM carriers 3G signals, are in fact, WCDMA/CDMA signals, and are being dual-casted, much like the current WiMax/CDMA dual cast Sprint is rolling out. That also explains the ability for voice + data on the GSM networks.

 

[Vulcan]

i thanked for waking me up that read was refreshing thank you.

 

[mbell75]

Much too long to read and probably nothing I care about. Only thing that matters to me is real world and my needs. Where I live, CDMA phones are for sure better than GSM phones. I got good signal and 3G speeds with Verizon and even better now with Sprint. Anyone who steps foot in my house with T Mobile drops to zero bars and has to go outside to even text. AT&T isnt much better.

 

[LoyalServant]

Oh this is an old debate.
I was still working in the industry (building towers, installing gear) when the changeovers to digital started to happen.

But yes, as stated a CDMA cell can serve more handsets than a GSM tower can.
We knew that back in the dark ages.. and I personally think that CDMA is a better protocol.
It can eek out a call on virtually no signal and is generally more tolerant.

One of the biggest issues facing tower deployments is the public.
They are the first ones to scream 'not in my back yard' and are a bane to the industry.
The same people knocking on doors to garner more support against cell upgrades and tower construction are the ones to call a carrier and BITCH about no service!

Now I am just a user...
Both systems have trade-offs.... it's the public that makes it expensive.
When I was involved with site construction and maintenance it cost around 200k to 300k to get a tower up.
It costs a million bucks dealing with the public fighting the tower and wanting study after study.

If they did not have the public and it's BS to deal with there would actually be less problems.
The dropped call phenomenon that the people in Europe mysteriously don't have?
Hmm.... wonder why that is.
It's GSM after all...

Think about it people.

 

[freeza]

Very interesting, informative, and awesome read. Thanks.

 

[noonehereyet]

Too bad the mods are on their union mandated break too...

Im NALC local 1100 thank-you! and maybe i was on my mandated break! and GSM is better than CDMA IMHO... i like to use my phone when im talking to someone....

 

[IOWA]

Im NALC local 1100 thank-you! and maybe i was on my mandated break! and GSM is better than CDMA IMHO... i like to use my phone when im talking to someone....

But ironically enough, that has nothing to do with GSM, and is enabled only by the phone simultaneously receiving W-CMDA signals.

 

[TheBrit]

One of the biggest issues facing tower deployments is the public.
They are the first ones to scream 'not in my back yard' and are a bane to the industry.
The same people knocking on doors to garner more support against cell upgrades and tower construction are the ones to call a carrier and BITCH about no service!

It costs a million bucks dealing with the public fighting the tower and wanting study after study.

If they did not have the public and it's BS to deal with there would actually be less problems.
The dropped call phenomenon that the people in Europe mysteriously don't have?
Hmm.... wonder why that is.
It's GSM after all...

We get that here in the UK too to some extent. I can think of one time in Winchester where there was a campaign against an Orange mast being erected. The protesting locals had signs in their windows stating ORANGE FREE ZONE! They didn't seem to 'get it' that this was the very reason the mast was needed.

The mast was put up and nobody died of a brain tumor or leukemia.

 

[Demache]

One of the biggest issues facing tower deployments is the public.
They are the first ones to scream 'not in my back yard' and are a bane to the indust

We get that here in the UK too to some extent. I can think of one time in Winchester where there was a campaign against an Orange mast being erected. The protesting locals had signs in their windows stating ORANGE FREE ZONE! They didn't seem to 'get it' that this was the very reason the mast was needed.

The mast was put up and nobody died of a brain tumor or leukemia.

I hope for their sakes they didn't put that on their protest signs. That is one of the silliest things I've heard.


Sent from my Eris using Tapatalk

 

[TheBrit]

I hope for their sakes they didn't put that on their protest signs. That is one of the silliest things I've heard.


Sent from my Eris using Tapatalk

No they didn't but that's what the scare stories were all about.

What's really silly is the people peddling the scare stories would think nothing of holding their cell phones against their heads.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

IOWA,

I know we but heads often but I just gotta say, I prefer GSM over CDMA just for the simple fact that when I travel, I can use a pre-paid SIM on my unlock phones. With CDMA, you have international roaming issues you have to deal with. And in some countries, roaming is NOT even possible. E.G. Go to Panama, good luck with any Verizon or Sprint phone that isn't a blackberry (with dual CDMA/GSM radios).

With a GSM phone, I pop out my old sim and put a new sim in. My current world phone is a Windows Mobile phone and it works well in dozen or so countries. I've been in. None of the Google features help when I'm abroad. When I was in Central America, I downloaded some garmin maps and I was read-to-go with. No outrageous data-plans.

 

[IOWA]

IOWA,

I know we but heads often but I just gotta say, I prefer GSM over CDMA just for the simple fact that when I travel, I can use a pre-paid SIM on my unlock phones. With CDMA, you have international roaming issues you have to deal with. And in some countries, roaming is NOT even possible. E.G. Go to Panama, good luck with any Verizon or Sprint phone that isn't a blackberry (with dual CDMA/GSM radios).

With a GSM phone, I pop out my old sim and put a new sim in. My current world phone is a Windows Mobile phone and it works well in dozen or so countries. I've been in. None of the Google features help when I'm abroad. When I was in Central America, I downloaded some garmin maps and I was read-to-go with. No outrageous data-plans.

Fair enough. But not all of us travel the world on a frequent basis. If I needed, I would pick up a Touch Pro 2, and a prepaid SIM overseas. The SIM card does have it's advantages, but there is a version of SIM for CDMA(RUIM), too. Sprint/VZW really needs to implement this. It would instantly claim all superiority over GSM, especially if they implemented Rev B and SVDO, Which from what I Understand, isn't very costly. Will they ever? Doubtful. ESN's are stupid, and it's not a drawback of CMDA per se', But one of the companies that choose not to implement RUIM.

 

[deeoh1084]

Hey what happened to Koreans? From what I know, they're definitely not behind the pack with Samsung and LG.

seriously from what i heard... koreans are #1 in communication

 

[elwray]

Fantastic write-up! While I think I have to go back and give another read-through to absorb all the information, I feel that I've got a drastically better understanding of these two systems now. I wish I could give more than one "thanks" to that post!

Any thoughts on a post about 4G/LTE/etc??? Your thread here is the only thing I've been able to read and come away with any understanding. I'd love to hear your explanation of the "next generation"!

Again, a big thank you to IOWA!

 

[IOWA]

Fantastic write-up! While I think I have to go back and give another read-through to absorb all the information, I feel that I've got a drastically better understanding of these two systems now. I wish I could give more than one "thanks" to that post!

Any thoughts on a post about 4G/LTE/etc??? Your thread here is the only thing I've been able to read and come away with any understanding. I'd love to hear your explanation of the "next generation"!

Again, a big thank you to IOWA!

I'm still learning about LTE/WiMax myself =D. But I'll make another write-up, Sure!

 

[elwray]

Cool - I've been reading various google results from search term "CDMA vs GSM" lately and they either were unnecessarily technical, or absurdly general. Your post is somewhere in the middle, and very well done. Just enough tech to get the points across (and enough tech-words so I can sound smart when I talk to friends about this - while citing your post, of course! )

Looking forward to the LTE/WiMax info.

 

[Demache]

Wait a minute. I just realized something. You never said anything about the GSM noise or pulse interference (not technical terms, just what I call them).

If you don't know what I mean:

YouTube - Cingular GSM Speaker Interference

One thing I miss about my GSM Nokia. I would always call my voicemail (only does it when sending and receiving from the network) and then put my phone right up to his car radio, and it would really piss him off.

Interesting to hear when the phone was "checking in". Every ten minutes or so, the transmitter would turn on and you hear that noise for about 3 seconds and then turn off. You also knew your phone was going to do something before it even rang or notified you.

 

[Unclebill]

At our radio station ... we have banned cell phones from the studio area due to the very noise you show in your demo. It's a real pain to have to redo a commercial because of this kind of noise in the background. I've never had a problem with any of my phones in the studios ...but then again, I'm on Verizon.

 

[MrDangerous]

I wonder about all this "not designed to carry voice" stuff. EVDO (evolution data only the original name). I think they just need to convert everything into pure IP and transmit voice as VOIP and data as data.

The reason GSM, TDMA, and iDEN all interfere with speakers is their time slots run at fixed times per second which is within our hearing range. 50 times per second would cause bursts of 50Hz noise.

 

[ed_mcnasty]

I have a question, would the 3G voice/4G data allow us to talk and use data like on GSM networks?

 

[quest7]

Thanks for enlightening me Iowa. I'm surprised I was able to keep up.