Handset selection, Fido vs Rogers vs CDMA

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.fido (More info?)

Now that the TDMA networks have switched to GSM, will this result in a
significant difference in handset availablility for GSM networks versus CDMA
networks ?

Or have handset manufacturers maintained parity between GSM and CDMA offerings ?

And now that some US networks are implementing a walkie talkie function (push
to talk) to their networks and handsets (I think CDMA has it now), what will
happen to iDEN (Nextel and Mike) ?

Aren't those iDEN networks going to slowly disapear ? Are they able to keep on
attracting new customers with competitive handsets ?

 

[Joseph]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.fido (More info?)

On Mon, 03 May 2004 03:07:37 -0400, JF Mezei
<jfmezei.spamnot@teksavvy.com> wrote:

>Now that the TDMA networks have switched to GSM, will this result in a
>significant difference in handset availablility for GSM networks versus CDMA
>networks ?

I guess it all depends. Since AT&T Wireless and cingular are going to
combine in the next year or so there will be more market for GSM
handsets. Since GSM in North America uses 850 and 1900 Mhz handsets
there still won't be the wide variety of handsets you'll find in
Europe and Asia, but the selection will be better. CDMA networks have
generally not had as wide a selection of handsets as GSM.

>Or have handset manufacturers maintained parity between GSM and CDMA offerings ?

There's never been parity simply because of numbers of subscribers.
GSM has around 800 million subscribers while CDMA has over 100
million.

>And now that some US networks are implementing a walkie talkie function (push
>to talk) to their networks and handsets (I think CDMA has it now), what will
>happen to iDEN (Nextel and Mike) ?

Nothing will happen to iDen networks probably because businesses
really like and use the PTT function and it works a lot better than
PTT implementations of other CDMA networks (such as Sprint PCS and
Verizon.)

>Aren't those iDEN networks going to slowly disapear ? Are they able to keep on
>attracting new customers with competitive handsets ?

Handsets aren't a big selling point for iDen networks.
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