Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (
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Central wrote:
> What handwriting? That all the gsm providers will be upgrading to cdma
> tech? I don't know what you are using to define the biggest service in
> the USA but I would not think it to be coverage.
What people fail to realize is that:
1. Carriers in Europe are using GSM only because it is a state-mandated
protocol, not necessarily because it's better, and
2. The current implementation of GSM in the US happened because it was
viewed as a quick and dirty stepping-stone from the rapidly-fading
IS-136/TDMA systems that many of these carriers had in place prior.
TDMA was a dead-end technology. GSM however was cheaper than
immediately migrating to CDMA for these carriers (and I emphasize
cheaper, not better). It was a stopgap measure to offer GPRS data when
they otherwise couldn't with TDMA, to match the CDMA carriers who were
already offering the same things.
Of course, a lot of people still swear by GSM, because even if it isn't
technically more advanced, it's just more widely used. If the cellular
industry in the US went by that logic, we'd all still be using AMPS
phones. Mediocrity should never be adopted simply because it's the norm.
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