GSM vs CDMA

This question came up on the expatriot list.  My answer turned out to be so long that I thought I'd post it here just in case someone links to my blog to get info about phone services in New Zealand...

The debate is largely a struggle between technological superiority and cost.  CDMA works better over longer distances than GSM--don't believe the commercials.  AT&T's network will drop more calls and have much slower data speeds than the CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint.  Dropped calls has been AT&T's focus the last couple of years and they have responded with more towers (more coverage) which has greatly improved service, but the underlying flaws in the technology remain.

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But you as a customer don't care about any of that.  You want a phone that works where ever you are, is easy to use and is easy understand.  Only the first one is GSM or CDMA specific.  The last 2 are specific to the device you select and all carriers will have a range of devices from simple phones to complex PDA's with tethered data and Windows Mobile OS.  I will only focus on a phone that works where ever you are.

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The very short answer is that GSM has about 10 times the world coverage of CDMA which really only has excellent coverate in North America.  Outside North America CDMA coverage will always be a question of will it or won't it.  With GSM you'll never have that problem.  If there is any cell phone capability, it will 9 times in 10 be GSM.  While that sounds great, you should still consider how often that will be important to you. 

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If you plan to spend 95% of your time in one large metro location.  Then really you will be much better served by a CDMA device for 95% of the time.  If you're never going to continent hop, then CDMA will always be a better choice.  But if you are going to seriously travel, especially through Europe, then GSM is the way to go.  Very exotic destinations like Africa, China, Australia, remote islands, will generally only support GSM or only have very spotty CDMA.

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There is one gotcha... data services.  CDMA is a great data delivery service.  GSM is not.  If you really depend on data services, you have to be a CDMA customer and take your chances with coverage.

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GSM does have one feature that falls in to the "easy to use" list, the SIM card.  GSM phones have a little chip you buy with the handset that contains all your personal information (phone lists, account details, etc).  When you buy a new GSM phone, you just pop in your SIM card and presto-chango you got a new phone with all your contact list info.  It's that easy.  Swap between 10 phones a day... no problem, just swap in your SIM card.  You never have to talk to customer service or visit a store.

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So the question is, How much do you roam?  If you are a globe trotter, then GSM.  If you're a home body, then CDMA.  The second question is, How dependent on data are you? If you really need data access (like for a laptop) then CDMA is better.  Then the last ugly fact, that CDMA data roaming is not supported in New Zealand.  None of the US CDMA carrier devices will be able to access data in NZ and none of the Telecom NZ devices will be able to access data in the US (or anywhere else).  GSM data will be more wide-spread, but very slow and sometimes very costly when roaming ($10 a megabyte in some cases).  However, if data roaming is needed at any cost, to and from NZ, then GSM is the only choice (Vodafone NZ).

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There is one last consideration... WorldMode devices.  These phones can attach to both CDMA and GSM.  But it is not as slick as it sounds.  The device is basically two phones duct taped together. There are issues using the phone between networks.  You will be able to make phone calls in both systems, but features beyond that will not be guaranteed (voicemail, data applications, contact lists, etc.)  These devices are harder to use for the less technically interested.  If you hate dinking around with your phone, this won't be a good choice for you.  If you're a travelling uber techno-geek, then it will get the job done.

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Technical mumbo jumbo for the morbidly interested...  CDMA has much better radio gain properties.  It will always be able to maintain a stronger and clearer signal with equivalent coverage and power to GSM.  GSM carriers compensate by using more cell towers to increase coverage, but this philosophy only works in certain markets.  In some places, it is not possible (or cost effective) to install enough towers to match a CDMA deployment. 

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The biggest impact of the CDMA radio gain is in data performance.  The latest high speed CDMA based data offering is EVDO Revision A.  These devices can easily hit 2 megabits/second download speeds throughout the US.  Other markets will vary.  Telecom New Zealand also supports EVDO Rev A (but won't support data roaming).  EVDO Rev A is the best data service in the world at the moment.  It probably will be for the next year or two.  WiMAX is better, but it is a long way from wide spread coverage and even farther from world acceptance.  GSM data offerings (even at the highest speeds) are a joke compared to EVDO--espeically when compared to general acceptance.  Most CDMA carriers around the world support EVDO so there is a high chance that if you have service at all you will also have high speed data.  Whereas with GSM, your phone calls will work, but universially your data performance is slow--roaming or not.

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One last tidbit of interest to my fellow Kiwi's... Telecom NZ is standing up a GSM network.  So very soon the choice will be moot as you can use either technology on Telecom's network *and* benefit from world wide voice and data roaming.  While the data offering won't be as good as EVDO Rev A, it will be the best GSM can offer (probably 700k a second).

There and Back Again... a Hobbit Holiday

A journey of some 17,000 miles on 6 airplanes, from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern, a dozen or so hours of driving, over 5 states in the USA, a wedding, a party, many favorite meals, an overnight stay with the in-laws, and finally a week of RV camping in the Lake of the Ozarks. Quite a journey for a wayward hobbit of Wellington in to lands most unkind by comparison to fair New Zealand.  But then a hobbit holiday really cooks down to "what did you eat?" and "how was the bed?"

I did manage to hit all my favorite foods minus one.  I got to enjoy my favorite mexican restaurants (Dos Reales and Ticos), the best pizza in Nebraska (and the world so far by my reckoning), and then of course all the home cooking and mandatory fast food that children seem to require.

My mom has a delightful basement bedroom, that is always cool and dark and quiet.  A great place to sleep in and she always seems to enjoy getting up early with the kids.  (Although she sure does not have to.)  While we were camping I had a fabulous tent with an air mattress.  This is quite a bit better than the not fabulous tent and sleeping bag I had as a kid.  The nights were fairly split between a little too hot and perfectly cool.  Not much can compare with a cool night breeze out in the open.

It was great to see my sister get married.  It was great to see the kids.  It was great to see all my friends in Lincoln.  It was great to knock around at my kids' first camping adventure.  It was great to feel like I was going home in both directions.

Now if I could only improve the travel experience... like about 112 hours less travel time at 1/10th the cost!  This is far too short to cover the whole experience, but it is all the time I have today.

Early Memories of my Father...

My parents divorced when I was about 7 years old.  These things happen and there are always good reasons for it and it is never fair.  Now I am divorced and visiting my kids.  Is there a pattern?  Probably.  Is it the same? No.  Will I make the same mistakes? No, I am sure I will come up with entirely new mistakes.  Regardless of patterns, good reasons, or discussion of world fairness, I thought I would capture at least a few of the earliest memories I have of my father.  Before I dig in, I will say that I have always loved my father.  It has only been in the last 6 years of my life that I have really been able to concretely see some of the flaws.  I still love my Dad.  These are just fragments--all of them before the age of 7.

This will sound bad... but the first thing I remember is my Dad setting the house on fire--more specifically the living room rug.  He put it out quickly.  I don't recall anything afterwards.  I think I was 2.

In an entirely different house, I remember seeing my Dad in his underwear sitting on the couch pretty much zoned out.  I think it must have been early morning.  I see a very similar look each morning in the mirror before coffee.

I remember seeing him refine pot, roll joints and smoke a lotta dope.  He laughed a lot.  There were usually a lot of friends around.

Several times at bed time, I would come out of my room in my underwear before going to bed.  On at least one occassion, during a pot party, my Dad pants me in front of everyone.  I yelped, yanked up my tighty whities and backed away.  Then someone else pants me.  I yelped and jumped away back to my Dad and then he pants me again.  That happened about 8 times until I was hysterically crying and fled to my Mom in the kitchen.  It wasn't that big a deal in retrospect... but it is one memory I wish I didn't have.

One night a neighbors cat got in our house.  My Dad was really mad.  I really don't know why.  He grabbed the cat and literally drop kicked it out the front door.

I remember my Dad putting together a slot car racing set I got for Christmas.  We raced the cars around for hours.

I had a lot of legos as a kid.  I showed my Dad a picture of a car on one of my sets.  I begged him to make it.  There were no instructions for it.  It was just a picture.  He was reluctant, but he tried.  It looked just like the picture when he was done.  I was so amazed.  It was perfect.

One morning our milk was just a nudge sour.  Not like really sour, but almost sour.  At 5 or 6, I really didn't know how to describe this and I didn't want to drink my milk.  Dad hit the roof.  He said I was lying.  Said he would drink it and if it wasn't sour, I'd get a woopin.  Well he drank it and I he roared that it wasn't sour.  But mom kept him from wooping me.  He yelled a lot and then left.

I had Hot Wheels as a kid complete with the orange tracks for them.  When I'd done something fairly terrible, Dad would use one of those race tracks to whip me.  It was probably just about the same a belt.  It hurt awful.

I remember visiting my Dad in jail.  He was really strung out.  He didn't really talk or recognize us.

I remember my Dad leaving because of the divorce.  I cried for a long time.  I can't even really say why.  I knew I would see him often.  I knew he loved me.  I never felt bad about anything he'd done (at that time).  I had other friends that had divorced parents.  But still I cried... harder than I ever remember crying before or since.

My Dad is almost 60 years old now.  He has a mostly broken back from working as a truck driver.  His heart is shot (quadruple bypass surgery about 10 years ago).  He has diabetes. He still smokes a pack of unfiltered Pall Malls every day.  He is jobless due to his health, has no savings or insurance, but does get some social security.  The only reason he isn't in prison is they could not provide for his health care.  But then he's been clean for over 10 years now.  He attends AA meetings nearly everyday.  He has sponsored many.  He's getting by. 

We haven't talked in about 4 years... maybe 6.  There is a lot that has occured between when I was 7 and now.  These were only early memories.  I thought of them this week as I spent my vacation with my 2 kids.

I remember once after my folks divorced that my Dad took me out to the movies on Saturday and we saw 3 movies in one day.  It was sooo cool.  This last week I took my son to see Iron Man.  It was a great movie.  He didn't notice the tears.

I struggle now to make only happy memories for them.  I know I can't undo or erase things.  I have no idea what they will remember their whole lives.  But I hope it is some of the good things.  I have never done a great many things my Dad did so hopefully they will have a better overall collection.

If I could give you anything out of this, perhaps just these two things... Your kids will not recognize your flaws for years to come--you can probably fix them before they notice! Second, always remember that some of the things you do will be remembered for their whole lives--you can't predict what they will latch on to.