Just when I thought I had everything settled....
What the heck is the big difference between TDMA and GSM?
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Just when I thought I had everything settled....
What the heck is the big difference between TDMA and GSM?
http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/
GSM: http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=3
TDMA: http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=9
the other standard is CDMA. that's the technology Verizon uses.
CDMA: http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=8
I've been through several Cell Phone Compabies here in the Northreast.
My first was Bell Atlantic/Verizon I had them for about 2 years they were great. Very reliable, service plans were reasonable and the Verizon store at the mall was always helpful, easy to stop by and pay the bill. I think they have only gotten better. I had to move on cuz I ended up not paying my bill and breaking the contract I had to pay $200.
Next came Omnipoint/Voice Stream/T-Mobile. I HATE THEM!! service is worse than Sprint. I dropped call all the time. I can walk into a building and loose my reception completely. The plans were ok, but seem like a was paying for aggrevation.
Costumer Servie sucks and are scam artist almost. After paying i think it was $5 a month extra for phone replacement they still charged me full price for a phone and charged me for calls after i had reported to them my phone stolen and to cancel my service. They sweet talked me not cancel and gave me the phone mentioned above for half price (a peice of shit Nokia 3355 or something) so they said. When my bill came in the mail disputed the charges and told to just cancel my account entirely cuz I been getting no where with them. With an attitude the lady tells me well your going to have to pay a disconnection fee of $200. It turns out I unknowningly signed into a new one year contract by accepting the new replacement Nokia when I wasnt even on a contract before that. Needless to say i was pist and canceled and have yet to pay them.
Why do they change their company name every other year or so?
http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/c...finalrecord=14
Now currently with Sprint they are by far better than T-Mobile. I get reception inside of buildings, nice clear calls (I love my 5300) better picture service than T-mobile. I have yet to drop a calls. Though the one draw back is that since they are all digital network there are one too many places where I end up roaming. And the Claire sucks, for the most part costumer service isn't very helpful a slight step up from T-Mobile. Also I never seem to get my bill in the mail in time so that to avoid getting disconnected so I end up having to pay my bill throught the Sprint web site to avoid disconnection. And paying $5 to pay your bill at Radio Shack is wack. Just walk into a Sprint store or pay online or the good ol mail and pay your bill for free well almost. Their plans seem to be getting more expensive though. I like my plan from a year or so ago not changing it for the meantime.
I highly recomend Verizon>Sprint>>>>>>>>>T-mobile. Nextel is just a gimmick at this point too. I also noticed that every time I call a Nextel user the Operator is always "locating the user" after about a minute I get the voice mail.
Hope my rant helps. I also travel plenty from NH to VA and twice to FL and my Sprint and Verizon were top notch.
The Nextel operator that says "locating the user" is normal. But as for going to voicemail, the person you must be contacting either has no reception, turned off the phone or on the 2way.Quote:
Originally Posted by x2y
Usually when you're in an open area with low buildings, such as FL, VA, etc., you'll end up with better service as there are no buildings to block your reception.
None you will notice. GSM has a little better compression for the carrier side, and has an easier upgrade path to the next Generation. They are almost the exact standard with some minor differences to prevent interoperbility...Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinobi128
GSM is the dominate standard in Europe, as it was mandated by the EU, and most governments. So its all you will find over there, and hence more users are on it. Its actually pretty outdated, and horrible for any sort of Data.
Just about every TDMA network is getting replaced by a GSM system.
But, like any of the carriers in transition, the GSM and TDMA networks they run at the same time are not equal, and one network may perform better for you than the the other in some areas.
...but, doesn't Verizon run on CDMA? The GOOD signal?
Eew...Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinobi128
Yeah they use CDMA. But its not they reason they are better, alot of it has to do with 800mhz vs 1900, and having intellegent old school RF engineers running the network. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaoofNee
On a side note, WTF is up with Nokia and those goofy keypads? Are they dropping Acid in mass quantities in Finland these days or what?
Nokia is dropping acid..
My phone is okay. But all those other phones by Nokia are friggin' retaerted.
Why don't they make phones you can actually hold solidly? Everything feels so fragil, especially those flip phones.
I held off getting a cell phone as long as possible, but was finally convinced to get one for my recent move. I don't have a landline, now, and use it as my sole phone.
Before I moved I knew nothing about such matters, and a friend recommended T-Mobile. I got a cheap $20 plan w/ $5 additional for T-Zones (data / net functionality) and a Sony Ericsson T610. It was a neat phone, tiny, with a crappy camera and pretty nice data service support (good for MapQuest, white pages and such). However, the T610 is known for having poor reception, and what do you know? At my new place it got 2 bars at best, and dropped calls like clockwork.
I took it back within the 14 day period, and had the number switched to Cingular. I almost got the T616 (same as T610) but the Cingular sales lady acknowledged the poor reception problem. On her recommendation I got the Motorola V400 instead. So far it's been pretty wonderful in terms of reception and coverage (though I've not traveled much). It also has a TFT screen, which makes it much easier to look at than the T610.
Cingular's costing me about 40 a month -- 30 for the base plan (national, all the minutes I could need) with insurance and 1MB data transfer making up the rest. The data transfer is a sore point of this setup, as the 1MB can go pretty quickly and I'm spoiled by the unlimited access I had with T-Mobile. Cingular's web features are also lacking compared to T-Mobile's.
For example, with TM I could track up to eight movie theaters and check them at any time. With Cingular it seems I can only subscribe to one, and the data is pushed to my phone at regular intervals, eating up my data transfer allotment. Yuck. Cingular also charges extra for MMS and AIM / IM support, which were both free with T-Zones. Needless to say, I can't justify $3 extra per month, each, for such superfluous (though fun) features. Luckily, it does appear you can trick the phone a bit to send pictures to email addresses w/o paying for Cingular's MMS service.
Just as an aside, I hear T-Mobile and Cingular use the same towers. So, the reason I now get useable service at my home is likely due to the phone itself being better.