CDMA or GSM

[Weapon_R]

I have gsm - although it is the international standard, etc, I hate my phone. It has zero reception in 90% of the Uni, including the library, social sciences, and mac hall cafeteria area. I think most companies are leaning towards GSM however, so I hope that Rogers will continuously improve their system.

CDMA right now for clarity, but look for GSM to improve later on.

[hinggu]

I seem to have no problem getting reception through my GSM network on campus... wonder why everyone else is having trouble. Is it maybe just rogers?

[egmike]

I have a rogers TDMA and it is ass, don't really experience dropped calls much just the person i am talking to sometimes can hardly hear me cause I am cutting in and out, too bad I have a year on my contract still or I would say c-ya!!

anyone ever get out of contracts ?

[hinggu]

I think you can get out of the contracts by paying a $200 service charge.

[Luke 96 T/A]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz


Seriously? My friend's got Roger's and he can't get reception ANYWHERE! He's even tried it with a few phones!

Same here.. all of MacHall is pretty bad.. science theaters and such work though.. but I do get a lot of dropped calls while walking through the campus ;-)

[Ben]

this is the thing, Telus has the best service, and yet people expect the same or cheaper rates than everyone also...you are paying for a service, generally better services cost a bit more. People want premium service at shit service price., and Telus does have quite good rate plans in all respect for what you are getting, but for some people they cant see beyond the dollar sign, and thats fine, I dont work for mobility at all and could care less about it.

[roopi]

TDMA - is not that bad actually. It is currently much better than Rogers GSM.

CDMA - great if you travel alot since you get analog coverage in remote areas. The phones suck ass though.

Fido GSM - great coverage in major cities but as soon as you leave you are screwed unless you get a GAIT phone that can support the analog coverage outside of cities. Good plans since No Contract. Phone prices too high though! You can always just buy an unlocked phone though.

Rogers GSM on the 1900 MHz - haven't heard great things about it. I personally use it for 2 of my accounts and I use Fido for the 3rd account. I haven't found any problems with it but stick to a phone with an external antenna. The V60G is a great phone. Even better get the V60t on the TDMA network through Rogers.

Rogers GSM on the 850 MHz - in the process of being implemented and will really make there network alot stronger since this frequency penatrates buildings alot better.

Right now so I have a Rogers GSM for Lethbridge and a Rogers GSM for Edmonton. I have a Fido GSM account for Calgary (Will switch to Rogers though when they offer prepaid GSM on Jan. 28th)

Not sure if this helps any. I voted GSM though. The clarity of the call is much better. The phones provide so many more features. You can pick any GSM phone in the world that you want have it unlocked for $40.00 and you are ready to go. If you want to change your phone buy a new phone and swap the sim card. It's that easy. You don't have to pay shitty reprogramming fees. Also with a GSM phone if it is tri-band you can use it world wide since it will support all networks (850, 1800, 1900).

[roopi]

also i this might help you decide. these are the locations of the cell towers in calgary:

http://www.geckobeach.com/cellular/m...calgary_sw.htm

[rage2]

Originally posted by roopi
Not sure if this helps any. I voted GSM though. The clarity of the call is much better. The phones provide so many more features.

I dunno man, my CDMA phone's sound quality is awesome (v60c). Last time I used a GSM phone (t68i on Fido GSM) it had horrible echoback... hear my own voice on the line. No reception in 1/2 of Arbour Lake too, which really sucked. Kenny's GSM phones (v60g and v70) sound really good on Fido, just as good as my CDMA v60c.

There are some CDMA phones with feature lists that are as nice as GSM phones. My v60c has no features tho, but that's a Motorola problem.

[roopi]

Originally posted by rage2


I dunno man, my CDMA phone's sound quality is awesome (v60c). Last time I used a GSM phone (t68i on Fido GSM) it had horrible echoback... hear my own voice on the line. No reception in 1/2 of Arbour Lake too, which really sucked. Kenny's GSM phones (v60g and v70) sound really good on Fido, just as good as my CDMA v60c.

There are some CDMA phones with feature lists that are as nice as GSM phones. My v60c has no features tho, but that's a Motorola problem.

Well I think sound quality really depends on the phone as well as the network. I've had the T68m and the T68i and the m was great for me on Rogers GSM. Then I had the i and it sucked. I've heard alot of problems with the T68i though.

The V60 is a great phone for RF. The V60t and V60c perform the same just different networks. When I had my V60G it was perfect. The only reason I got rid of it was so I could get the T720 which has better sound than the V60G, V60T, V60C and it has a color screen that is about twice the size of the V60 screens. I've had 3 V60's and they are great.

I've heard about the network issues in NW Calgary though. If you take a look at that map a few posts up you will see why.

[REdOX]

Originally posted by roopi
also i this might help you decide. these are the locations of the cell towers in calgary:

http://www.geckobeach.com/cellular/m...calgary_sw.htm

lol.. according to that map there are no cell sites in NE calgary.

[roopi]

Originally posted by REdOX


lol.. according to that map there are no cell sites in NE calgary.

NE Calgary sites have not been mapped. If you would like to help map sites in the Calgary area OR know where some sites are then please email me!

lol looks like you can't read!

[kenny]

It depends what you are after when choosing which carrier to go with (and ultimately the technology: GSM/CDMA)...

For me, I like to change to the newest phones quite often, and GSM phones with their simcards allow that to be done very easily, pop the card out, pop it into a new phone and all your phone numbers are set and you're up and running. No need to get someone to "activate" the phone for you.

Another good thing about GSM is how its billed. With GSM technology, you are billed starting from when the call is actually connected. So if it rings for 3 minutes then someone picks up and talks to you for 20 seconds, you are billed for 20 seconds. The same situation on any CDMA carrier (Bell, Telus) will result in a 4 minute charge because you are billed starting from when you hit SEND, 3 minutes for the ringing and another minute for the 20seconds. Per second billing does not start until the second minute on all those carriers (if you even have that option).

If you are the type that does lots of really short phonecalls rather than few longer conversations, in the long run, it would be cheaper to go with Fido with its per-second billing from the first second. However, there are lots of drawbacks of Fido, their network is not as mature as Telus and as a result there are a bunch of poor reception areas throughout the city.

Rogers is even worse because they piggybacked their GSM equipment onto their TDMA towers which results in tons of no reception areas scattered throughout the city. Give them a year and I am sure it will improve.

In short, you can't really pick a network based on what other ppl suggest because everyone's usage pattern is different. If you want the best call quality, go with Telus. If you want more/better features go with Fido. If you want tons of dropped calls, go with Rogers! haha j/k but it all depends on what areas you frequent.

[REdOX]

Originally posted by roopi


NE Calgary sites have not been mapped. If you would like to help map sites in the Calgary area OR know where some sites are then please email me!

lol looks like you can't read!

lol. I can read just fine. I just didn't read it. There's a difference.

[roopi]

Originally posted by REdOX


lol. I can read just fine. I just didn't read it. There's a difference.

relax i was just kidding.

[REdOX]

Originally posted by roopi


relax i was just kidding.

sorry... I'm just in a bad mood. My GF (of 3 years) and I just split up tonight.

Peace.

[roopi]

Originally posted by REdOX


sorry... I'm just in a bad mood. My GF (of 3 years) and I just split up tonight.

Peace.

sorry to hear man.

[thetransporter]

CDMA still strong in 2017

[rage2]

What a random ass bump. But since we're here, if it wasn't for Telus extending their CDMA shutdown by a few months, we would be CDMAless today.

[spikerS]

LOL, yeah I think we are keeping it going until June before it gets shut down permanently.

MiKE (iDEN) was shut down in January iirc.

it is all HSPA (WCDMA) and LTE now.