10/27 What's the word on mobile telephone service in Berkeley? And GSM
versus TDMA?
\_ TDMA is old. All TDMA service is being upgraded to GSM. CDMA is
technologically superior but only used in the U.S., South Korea and
to some extent, Japan. I use Verizon and my only complaint is
price
to some extent, Japan. I use Verizon and my only complaint is price
\_ CDMA has countrywide coverage 1x (144k) in Japan by KDDI. CDMA
is also used in China (China Unicom).
\_ I thought GSM coverage in China is FAR MORE superior.
\_ You are right. CHU's CDMA coverage is good in many
areas but still spotty in say Guangzhou. It's a far newer
network (started building it less than 2 years ago) so
there should be improvements as it matures. CHU already
had a GSM network when it decided that it wanted a
overlapping CDMA one, probably due to government
influence to gain some experience with CDMA technologies
because of its military applicability. Another plus
is that a 2G CDMA system can be transitioned to 2.5G/3G
is also used in China (China Unicom).
\_ I thought GSM coverage in China is FAR MORE superior.
much more easily than a GSM to WCDMA transition.
\_ old AT&T wireless was TDMA, right? How is their new GSM system?
when it first came out people were really unhappy with it, has
it gotten better than their old TDMA system yet?
\_ TDMA and GSM are simliar technologies. I don't know about
you, but my experience of AT&T's TDMA in New York City
was hell on earth.
\_ I've had TDMA, AT&T in N Cal since 1998. It was pretty good till
I went to Southern Cal. Less coverage. Dropped calls. But then
again I traveled a lot in S Cal than I did in N Cal (where I stayed
mostly in one place, so that may be it, I don't know). At any rate
TDMA sucked in S Cal and I decided to switch to AT&T's G3 network,
which was GSM based, thinking that maybe coverage or quality
would be better. WRONG!!!!!!!!!! So I cancelled GSM and got
Verizon. Absolutely no complaint. Verizon is PCS+CDMA+Analog.
Ok I guess my only complaint with Verizon is the price, but you
really get what you'd pay for. BTW I would NOT do Cingular and
T-Mobile, they make AT&T look like really good carriers.
-ucla cs student
\_ What's PCS? I thought PCS is just a marketing term, or does
it refer to a frequency band?
\_ PCS is a marketing term which refers to CDMA operating at
1900MHz. Many Verizon phones can 'roam' onto Sprint's 1900MHz
network in the event that there's a hole in Verizon's coverage
It's also worth mentioning that 1900MHz signals do not
penetrate buildings as well as say, Verizon's 800MHz.
it gotten better than their old TDMA system yet?
T-Mobile, they make AT&T look like really good carriers.
-ucla cs student
\_ Frequencies do not "penetrate". They bounce. 800Mhz
bounces more easily than 1900Mhz, which require good
line of sight. -ucla student |