CDMA market to shrink

yep... I can hear you now!!! Must be the Network!!! :loony: :browani:

 

I've got one for everyone!

Can you plus dial on Verizon or Sprint? No.

Living in San Diego, I have clients in Tijuana, Mexico. If I couldn't plus dial, I'd literally have to store client phone numbers in multiple ways. Since Outlook has the ability to support + dialing and so does GSM, UMTS, etc... It makes it super easy to call from wherever I'm at.

Want to setup Outlook to include country code information?

1. Open Outlook
2. Press CONTROL-SHIFT-D (shortcut to New Call window)
3. Click Dialing Options
4. Select option: Automatically add country code to local phone numbers.

Now, if you have a BlackBerry or other GSM device that Syncs up with Outlook, you will get a PLUS in front of all the new #'s you've entered. You can also go into each contact and double-click the phone numbers and correct the information.

It goes like this:
+ country (area code) phone#prefix - phone#number

Example: +1 (619) 555-1212

Anyway, most people could care less, but, if you have to deal with calling people ouside of the US or travel outside of the US and want to make calls without thinking about international access codes, or anything ... Then you will want GSM/UMTS/etc ...

As far as service goes, in San Diego, its not bad at all, I drop here and there, but so does Verizon.

 

That is more a product of the phone's UI/or whatever it's called then CDMA technology, I'm pretty sure. I can make international calls with mine without a problem....it's not a smartphone though.

 

It does seem like Qualcomm will have a "Monopoly" on everyone with it getting roalties from every handset sold with CDMA technology. Especially with WCDMA coming into the markets and it makes you wonder if they can cause the prices of handsets & plans to increase when they have a stranglehold in the world on getting money from every carrier that goes 3G.

Maybe this is why China is looking to develop their own network technology to get away from Qualcomm, and I wonder if Nokia is going to win their case that Qualcomm filed against them.

 

@Fire14

The thing is that Qualcomm has to play its hand carefully with royalties. If they start increasing royalties or exterting too much influence they might find that there is a backlash at some point, especially when it comes to implementing new standards.

 

Hello guys,
Could anyone enlighten me with the following questions? (Inevitably, I am one those unfortunate guys who has to travel the world over. And I would like to carry just one phone. So here are my questions. Thanks in advance.)
1. What system is being in service at the moment in Japan?
2. If I have a mobile phone with W-CDMA 2100 such as Nokia E61 or N71 etc., would it work in Japan?
3. Would I be able to buy a SIM card there and switch, just as I did in UK or in Germany?
Many thanks guys and may you be successful in all that you do.
Anthony

 

Japan uses three different standards at the moment, although two of them are similar enough to be compatible. KDDI AU uses CDMA 2000 I believe. Vodafone KK (or whatever it is called now uses WCDMA (the 2100 MHz version)). NTT DoCoMo uses a version of WCDMA called FOMA, which, I believe, they have now modified to work with standard 2100 MHz WCDMA.

If your home network has a roaming agreement with either of the Japanese WCDMA networks then yes you can.

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think so. As far as I know the Japanese networks don't use SIM cards, even with WCDMA handsets. As far as I am aware you would keep your own SIM card in your handset. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here.

 

I'm not entirely sure about the SIM card situation, but as far as I know they don't use SIM/USIM cards. If they aren't using them then I would very much doubt that they will in the near future.

If I were to travel to Japan I would either use my own handset to roam on a Japanese network or rent a handset for use there.

An interesting development is that DoCoMo are to make all their handsets compatible with GSM network. This is so that DoCoMo customers can roam on GSM networks outside of Japan. A friend of mine who lives in japan informs me that they won't be able to be used outside of Japan except in this capacity.

 

Dear Scotboyuk,
Yes, it is about the time someone in Japan wakes up as millions of Japanese travel the world over each year as well as similar amount of foreigners from all over the globe roam the country. I rally am sorry for those who are racist or think racist no matter in whatever field, nationality, religion, technology etc. They are having a hard time finding themselves a place to live on this Earth these days.

At the moment, I am staying in Thailand using a first generation dual band GSM Motorola from Germany. It worked fascinatingly well when I lived in UK, Belgium and Germany. Last month, I moved to Thailand and switched to a Thai SIM card from AIS, a major Thai mobile service provider. It worked fine for a while. However, despite the strong signal of the base stations in Bangkok, my poor Motorola keeps reset itself very often and its signal indicator shows only 1 or 2 bars before indicating the full strength. And of course, each time it resets itself, whatever I am on is gone forever!

So I came to a conclusion that I definitely need a new handset. I was having an eye on the Motorola Motorola RAZR V3i but having read quite a few reviews from friends who used this model in UK and USA saying that it has problems with receptions especially when switch SIM cards so I change my mind to look into Nokia series E and N. and since I know I will have to stay in Japan next March for a while so I will take your advice.

If you happen to travel to Thailand in the near future, please drop me a line. Perhaps I could show you some of Thai electronic markets around Bangkok.

Thanks again.
Anthony