Comments on: Welcome to the club Verizon, but you’re still CDMA

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:59:50 +0000

There are other benefits to GSM phones and having the ability to switch out your SIM card besides using your phone internationally. It’s a lot easier to break a phone than it is to break a SIM card. I, personally, have broken a lot of cell phones, but I’ve never broken my SIM card. It’s easy to just transfer all my information into a new device by putting my SIM card in another phone, so I’ve never had to be feel like a tool sending a mass e-mail to friends explaining how I broke my cell phone and don’t have anyone’s number. When my battery is low, I can just switch my SIM card into a friend’s GSM phone to make calls, find numbers, or check text messages.

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:09:46 +0000

While I tend to agree, Murph, verizon is also reacting to the threat of WiMax which, if all goes according to plan, should be international as well. Obviously they’re trying to sell fleet managers on the idea of sticking a little box in their bulldozers so they can keep an eye on inventory and joyriding construction workers, but this is not the way to do it. Spirnt/NEXTEL has business sewed up in anything these guys would be looking at and enabling third-party folks to create CDMA mini-radios for future implementations, while noble, is probably not going to cut it.

This is lip service to openness, pure and simple. While your personal GSM experience might suck, the rest of the world’s GSM experience is top notch. When I lived overseas I got signal in basements, tunnels, subways, and caves whereas I can’t get Verizon OR T-Mo in some parts of my house. CDMA is good enough locally, sure, but there’s a reason folks like Sprint and Verizon are offering “roaming” phones with SIMs built-in - there is money in roaming that they can’t make on 5000 minutes free and 5 million texts a month plans they’re selling here. By opening their network to data-oriented devices, they’re trying to pull this same trick - charge an arm and a leg for enterprise mobile services while essentially giving away voice service. Will it work? Sure, why not? Is it “open and free” as in “open relationship” and “free beer?” naw. It’s another way to sell their point of view.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:26:31 +0000

Wow “CDMA pales in comparison to GSM.” Have you heard the quality on a GSM phone? Everyone I know who uses GSM has to hear me say “What, you cut out there for a second” or “What, your connection is to choppy for me to understand you” all the time. My Sprint phone has had the best call quality of any that I’ve used. And, at least within the USA, when traveling I feel confident that my phone will work. Not so with GSM which seems to tightly hug the freeways.

How about a review that covers things besides international portability? While a agree the the modular concept of the SIM card is awesome, I’m much happier with calls that I can actually hear and be heard on.

By: simon

simon — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:02:54 +0000

How often would you have to travel internaitonally to make it worth it?

I have a GSM (AT&T) blackberry and a Verizon CDMA phone and the GSM service is a joke in the san francisco bay area - the calls are garbled and drop so frequently its laughable. I can’t honestly understand how people can use it as their primary phone.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:02:14 +0000

I agree that the SIM card functionality of GSM is great in that you can just drop it into any device at anytime. But I think for the vast majority of americans, CDMA is good enough. Most people don’t do enough international travelling to care that their phone may not work outside the company.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:57:50 +0000

Agreed.

If I was in your position, I wouldn’t give CDMA a second glance.

By: murph

murph — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:43:07 +0000

just look at the slide you posted, VZW doesn’t even care about you and your phone. they are obviously courting business wireless data services with this initiative.

By: Peter Ha

Peter Ha — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:40:35 +0000

I understand, Nate. I think domestically CDMA is perfect, but outside the country you’re FUBAR.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:36:09 +0000

I’d agree with you if I were someone who’s job required international travel. But, for most of us, this is not the case.

For us, CDMA works just fine.