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