[Thigmaswams]

Well, all the GSM networks at least?

[D6b2v1HA]

GSM may not be the same in the US.

Anyway, in Europe, do you keep your phone number if you switch providers?

[KellyMP]

DanS may be right, IIUC some of the North American carriers actually provide no way to change the SIM on a phone.

[WhiliaStelt]

Then of course there are hybred networks which use cell and CDMA or cell and GSM (one for data and one for calls or for back up range on reception, etc). The technology and combinations can get complicated very quickly so a lot depends on what system you are using.

Having a phone "unlocked" means you can shop around to other carriers. For instance many "world band phones" can work on both GSM and CDMA but not all GSM or CDMA phones use the same frequencies because different countries specify different frequencies. Unlocking the phone let's you use other network carriers on that phone instead of just the one who originally sold you the phone.

[nemoforone]

Do you or anybody else from Poly in the US use an unlocked phone?

[jimmy28]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
DanS may be right, IIUC some of the North American carriers actually provide no way to change the SIM on a phone. The simm cards are only for GSM systems. Cell and CDMA phones use a built in chip on the phone.

[WaydayFep]

There are two things though they can be the same. It just depends. You can have a phone card which is a plastic card about the size of a credit card which has a code you have to enter every time you use the phone (much like a calling card) but those are unpopular and rare. What I was talking about was actually having two simm chips one for where you normally live and one for your business destination (say Japan).

If you use your regular American account/simm chip then you will get smacked in the head with giant roaming charges for using your phone in Japan. You can instead buy a pre-paid simm chip in Japan (with say $50, $100, or $200 worth of air time) and put that chip in your phone so you'd pay local rates instead of roaming rates. Once you change the chip you'd be a NTT-DoCoMo (or who ever) customer where as once you put your old simm chip back in then you'd once again be on your old provider.

The phone company is tracking the usage on that simm chip, not the phone, so if you switch simms then you are switching the phone account as far as the provider is concerned.

[Chooriwrocaey]

It's like VHS vs BetaMAX. A locked phone is like a VHS VCR which will only play movies sold by Sony. Unlocking it will let you use all VHS tapes no matter who made the movie but you still can't play BetaMAX tapes.

Got it?

[Smabeabumjess]

I use to do Hybrid (GSM plus the old 'standard') but GSM is so common that when I got a new phone 1.5 years ago, I just went with GSM.

The few locations I don't get service I don't think I would get service with anything else either.

JM

[iNYZgxNC]

hybrids, all this confusion about standards and roaming in the networks, guys, your providers are really banging you in the anus.

You have so complex deals it would make anyone dizzy!!!

DanS, most reasonable phones can support all your needs, GSM, CDMA and all that jazz. If you want to buy a phone that supports only one of these, well, it's just like buying yes, an old betamax system.

There is no problem, just get a phone that is modern enough to be in this century, so it will support all your standard needs. Period.

And if you provider or someone else here tries to engage in GSM vs CDMA, and claim the benefits of the other are far better in the other, is a fool who does not know what he's talking about and is simply a repeater of their campagn material. In extremely dense populated areas you might want to go with CDMA, but this does not mean you should choose between these when buying a phone.

[halyshitzob]

Well it's not my problem you guys are draconian when it comes to basic consumer technology.

Get one that supports both. If you have to choose, choose GSM. But then again, you are dealing with Motorola. Well it's like the Sony of the console world, you get ****. Behind everything, claiming to be on top

[weaddercaps]

The EU uses GSM mainly because the French are protectionist S.O.B.s, the French have lots of influence on the EU, so the French forced the EU to adopt the technology of a french company as the EU legal standard. Originally, the EU made it so that ONLY GSM could be used in the EU for the new generation of phones but Qualcomm and other companies (mostly American and Asian) sued and eventually the EU changed its laws. Not before GSM had become the defacto standard in Europe though.

In The Americas and Asia CDMA has done very well. Dispit Pekka's claims from a purely technical and engineering standpoint CDMA is better then GSM because you can get more calls through a single switch, better compression of data, and a slightly clearer signal. It is slightly more expensive though in no small part due to the fact that the EU's early mandate meant GSM got adopted in mass in Europe and so there is a larger installed GSM base then CDMA base. Still, in Asia and Latin America CDMA has been doing very well.

The differences aren't huge but they are there.

[avdddcxnelkaxz]

Basically I'm saying, with the pros and cons of the both, neither is superior to the other.

It is also a super ridiculous claim that CDMA is much superior, and EU ****ed it up by supporting GSM. The pros and cons cancel each other out effectively.

You can't even say right now that the future will be better for the other in terms of technology. This is a false statement at this moment.

But... if you need to decide between the two, take the one that has better coverage on YOUR region. This might vary. So find out what has better coverage if you must choose.

The market will end up deciding which one will prevail, however, it is not an issue that is settled today or tomorrow, and there will be no way that 'the better will win' as far as the opportuntieis goes, they are so equal, that making a strong statement for the other is simply impossible, unless you are supported by the other.

[ZZtop]

Of course tri mode or even quad mode phones are the way to go if you travel internationally. It is the only way you can always use EVERY network in every country. I think the future will be quad mode since once a company spends billions of dollars constructing a wireless network they want to keep using that hardware for as long as possible.

The only problem is quad mode phones are often ungodly expensive.