From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >On 22-Apr-15 07:53, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   >>Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
      
   >>>It's just like the stupidity of our CDMA/TDMA/iDEN war while the world   
   >>>standardized on GSM.  Despite its flaws, GSM is far superior to all of   
   >>>the US-developed systems _and_ costs less due to economy of scale, which   
   >>>is why all US carriers are finally moving that way.   
      
   >>Oh, c'mon, GSM came later.   
      
   >GSM development started in 1982, the standard was published in 1987, and   
   >the first network went live in 1991.   
      
   >iDEN development started in 1991, and the first handsets weren't   
   >available until 1994--after GSM.   
      
   >cdmaOne (IS-95) was published and first deployed in 1995--after GSM.   
      
   >D-AMPS aka TDMA (IS-54) was first deployed in 1990--only a year before   
   >GSM.  I can't find a date for when the spec was published.   
      
   Ok, thanks for the dates.   
      
   >>I have no idea why you would state it's superior. As it happens, I'm a   
   >>T-Mobile subscriber (using an AT&T cell phone), but sound quality isn't   
   >>all that brilliant and I lose coverage plenty of times when indoors.   
      
   >That's mostly a coverage issue, not a technology one.   
      
   >However, because carriers use different technologies, phones can't roam   
   >between networks to fill in dead spots.  Using the same technology   
   >doesn't guarantee roaming agreements will exist, of course, but using   
   >different technologies completely precludes them.   
      
   My previous GSM phone could work within four frequency bands, so I   
   think it would have worked on any GSM carrier in the world (once I   
   obtained a local SIM card). But I washed it, feh.   
      
   --- SoupGate/W32 v1.03   
    * Origin: LiveWire BBS -=*=- UseNet FTN Gateway (1:2320/1)