Rumor: AT&T outbid Verizon for iPad 3G pact?

Until Verizon either switches to GSM or Apple implements a dual-mode 3G architecture, I don't think Apple's interested in making any CDMA-only devices.

CDMA will be history in the near future. My folks are back in Europe, I would never buy a gadget that's limited to CDMA.

I still can't believe that the US uses CDMA, and that there are only two carriers that allow GSM.

Originally posted by kubapolak:

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I still can't believe that the US uses CDMA, and that there are only two carriers that allow GSM.

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I live here in the U.S. and GSM is not all that great here. GSM may work in some parts of the U.S. but not all. I"ve been to NYC and GSM is awful when crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. The signal drops. I live in Texas and GSM is well, not that great. The way to go if you want a good signal in the U.S., CDMA is the way to go. 1st Verizon then Sprint. GSM maybe Good in other countries but not in the U.S.

Originally posted by cyprusrom:

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CDMA will be history in the near future. My folks are back in Europe, I would never buy a gadget that's limited to CDMA.

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What is the limit of CDMA? Please explain.

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Originally posted by cyprusrom:

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CDMA will be history in the near future. My folks are back in Europe, I would never buy a gadget that's limited to CDMA.

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What is the limit of CDMA? Please explain.

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The main limit of CDMA is that it's useless outside the US (since most of the rest of the world is GSM). CDMA, however, has higher data bandwidth capability than GSM. It's also wrong for him to say that because Verizon Wireless is so huge that they don't have to follow any packs...and they would have to replace SO many customer's devices if they switched now.

BTW, GSM has also been found to be more likely to interfere w/ other electronics (esp. audio equipment).

Why I wouldn't get a CDMA phone/service? Because I travel, and with a quadband phone I can just buy a SIM card with minutes anywhere. If my battery dies, I can just quickly borrow any other phone an put my SIM card in. Almost all phones are unlocked(unless subsidized by a carrier), you don't need to do anything with the service provider.

With a CDMA device, you're stuck, when your phone dies/broken, you're done.
For example, if you want to upgrade a CDMA phone, the carrier must deactivate the old phone and then activate the new one. The old phone becomes useless.
My old phone is always charged and turned off in my backpack. If it happens that I drop my new phone in a beer mug or just forget to charge it,or drop it from the 6th floor, I just pull out the old phone, pop in the card and I am live again in a matter of minutes.
The roaming between GSM networks is also much cheaper.

The data bandwidth might be ahead for CDMA, but the gap is closing. Not interested yet on torrenting yet on my phone anyway.

Whatever happened To the dualmode chips. the ones that could do both GSM and CDMA. it would be easy enough to just let the consumer decide which network they want.

but that would make common sense and we all know, there isn't any of that in Apples Marketing department.

GSM may be the standard across the world, but from what i have experienced here in the States is that it sucks. First off why does Verizon Constantly (in every review and from my own experiences) have far better reception? And also when I was with my last GSM carrier I knew about 5 seconds before I got a call because my speakers in my TV and pc would make a weird noise!. Until GSM improves here I'm sticking with the good ole CDMA!!!

Believe it or not, the mobile telephony is still retarded in US, they are years behind Europe or Asia. When I came to The States, people were still using bricks here, while in Europe we had nice fancy gizmo's as a phone. I don't why, maybe because the land line network was better structured, so the mobile business took a while to take off.

I am with AT&T now,been for 8 years(it was Cellular One before) and honestly I do not know what a "dropped call" means. On my way to work, a 40 minutes drive, I have a stretch of maybe 3 minutes that I have poor reception. Verizon just got in the area a year or two ago, and now especially after buying Alltel.
In different places one is gonna be better than the other, and the best one is the one that suits each individual's needs.

Originally posted by cyprusrom:

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Believe it or not, the mobile telephony is still retarded in US...

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Careful...Sarah Palin might try to get you fired from somewhere! ;-)

Originally posted by DXR88:

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Whatever happened To the dualmode chips. the ones that could do both GSM and CDMA. it would be easy enough to just let the consumer decide which network they want.

but that would make common sense and we all know, there isn't any of that in Apples Marketing department.

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Why give consumers what they want when you can charge them for the GSM phone first, then charge them for the CDMA phone a year later?

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Originally posted by cyprusrom:

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Believe it or not, the mobile telephony is still retarded in US...

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Careful...Sarah Palin might try to get you fired from somewhere! ;-)

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That's the truth, whether some people can handle it or not!

I used to have nice T***something Sony-Ericsson that was half the size of my palm, with free incoming calls(from land line, other carriers...), free out/in calls in the same network, free texting. Hell, at the beginning the first 3 seconds of any call were free(so if you called someone and the voice mail picked up right away, and you hung up, you didn't get charged).

Then I moved here and it was like stepping into 3rd world mobile telephony. The phones were huge, barely would fit in any pocket,no variety available at all(either went with a Nokia brick, or a Motorola boulder), and the plans were super expensive.

Things have changed over the years,especially with the emerging of the smart phones, but there's still catching up to do when it comes to services.

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Then I moved here and it was like stepping into 3rd world mobile telephony. The phones were huge, barely would fit in any pocket,no variety available at all(either went with a Nokia brick, or a Motorola boulder), and the plans were super expensive.

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Hey careful I live in a country considered to the '3rd world' and our telephony is pretty awesome. We have 3 companies operating in a population of 3mill. Our CDMA network was taken over and switch to GSM. There are three 3G networks and one launching 4G on WIMAX in April. Two of our 3G networks support video calling as well. Which they don't have in the US
I think it's just the implementation of the GSM networks in the US that makes them so poor.
I travel to the states and roam on AT&T it sucks so bad how do you people use that awful network its almost a disgrace to the GSM family? So stepping into the '3rd world' for cellular service can actually be an upgrade.


*edit used the wrong quote

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Hey careful I live in a country considered to the '3rd world' and our telephony is pretty awesome....
So stepping into the '3rd world' for cellular service can actually be an upgrade.


*edit used the wrong quote

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You obviously cannot quote...or you don't understand your quotation.

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Originally posted by DXR88:

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Whatever happened To the dualmode chips. the ones that could do both GSM and CDMA. it would be easy enough to just let the consumer decide which network they want.

but that would make common sense and we all know, there isn't any of that in Apples Marketing department.

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Why give consumers what they want when you can charge them for the GSM phone first, then charge them for the CDMA phone a year later?

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true, but its not exactly a phone we're talking about.