GSM sound, CDMA sound?

I don't agree with a general statement like this, jones. t-mobile does not sound good/best everywhere. There are areas where CDMA carriers sound better than all GSM carriers and vice versa.

 

I agree that the phone has a lot to do with it. My move from an LG to a Moto made a huge difference(not that it was all that bad before), but in my area, at least, it seems like whatever phones people use on Cingular, whether it's a Moto or RF kings like Nokias, sound quality is garbled and bad.

 

Hmm. I wonder if Verizon is already using the new software platform?

 

I'm not sure, but you are saying that this is something brand new that you think nobody has upgraded to yet, correct? Well, with Verizon, for at least the last two years this is how it's been: Right after the first ring that the calling party hears the Verizon phone actually starts ringing, and as far as I know, CricKet phones don't have a big delay either. Sprint phones here take 1-4 rings to actually start ringing.

 

Yes I was told that this would be something new for CDMA vendors.

 

My phone rings right away, my old 4400, and my sons v262 both takes about 3-4 rings, but they are on Eloqui. My Verizon phone has never had that problem.

 

Interesting. This is news to me. Can someone else confirm this? Bobolito do you know anything about this?

 

This thread doesn't seem like the real question is GSM vs CDMA sound, as a function of the two technologies. More of a local network issue, and bad phones.

I've had great calls with GSM here in the NE. Including direct calls from friends using their cell phone sitting in a bar in Paris to me in the congested area around NYC. Crystal clear, no background noise...it couldn't really be any better. Both Paris and New York could not be considered low mobile phone user areas, certainly compared to Salt Lake City. I've also have had great calls while driving in my car. Once received a mobile call while in home depot from Japan...no problem, excellant quality, no noise problem. (from japan it was a landline). And yes, I live and play in the woodlands. GSM (and CDMA) works just fine there too. Of course some areas that are not built out, will not work...yet. Sound is not flat or too high. Just normal.

And yes, in this same area I've had bad GSM calls...also bad CDMA calls from friends to my landline. This is not really a GSM vs CDMA thing. Or 850 vs 1900. Both systems can function very well or very poorly, in all cases, under all situations. I think Bobolito gave a pretty complete snapshot of what can happen. I don't know the averages on this thing, no one does. But it seems everyone experiences this, that even comedians make jokes about it. i.e. "Honey I can' t hear what you want me to do, the cell phone coverage is bad here..."

If you really want to hear consistently bad service, try Vonage! I friend tried to call our home line 3 times and I only heard a very loud buzz in the line. Vonage seems to be really bad.

 

I haven't had that problem with my Verizon phone. As soon as it's called I hear it ring. I have noticed on my grandmother's Alltel phone that sometimes I hear it ring a couple of times on my end though before her cell rings.

 

So I guess this means that Verizon has either been on this new platform for a long time or that they are doing something else to almost eliminate the CDMA problem Larry was pointing out.

 

If Sprint could do something about this problem they would have a much better network. I think the delayed ringing/slot cycle timing is the cause of most calls rolling to VM. Hopefully it's coming soon like someone at Sprint told me.

 

I agree, I hope Sprint and other CDMA carriers soon take care of this problem. It was a big problem for Sprint, sometimes caller would tell me the line rang 7 or 8 times before I picked up even though I picked up as soon as my phone started ringing.

 

Is this CDMA problem similar to why landlines have to ring 2-3 times for the caller ID to show up?

 

Your landline takes 2-3 rings for the CID to show up? Mine shows up while the first ring completes.

 

Mine shows up on the second ring.

 

T-mobile sounds horrible here

 

They are starting to get worse from what I've seen. Cingular is the worst, though, bottom line.

 

Yes and for everyone Andy has no pun intended for Cingular neither do I. But when you have the facts GSM is just horrible here and I dont know why. Maybe all the mountains have something to do with it lol.

 

Thank you for backing me up, and no i have nothing against cingular, i just don't understand why they are seriously that horrible here, it's HORRIBLE, honestly!!! My girlfriend got Cingular, even though I told them to stay away from them, and we nearly got in a fight the other day because her phone didn't work in the South Towne Area(Ryan knows there that is). Pathetic how they are so horrible here. T-Mobile is starting to get bad again. My bosses have t-mobile and they are also starting to get fed up with bad voice quality much more now than before.

 

I have used t-mobile, nextel, sprint, verizon, and cingular in my area. CDMA definatley has the best voice quality to me, with the winner being sprint. With sprint my call sounds almost perfect down to -106 db but if the signal gets any weaker then it will just drop the call. verizon has very similar voice quality, but there would sometimes have random digital staticy sounds that would interrupt the call. GSM and iDEN phones seem to get worse when the signal gets worse like someone else said. when tmobile/cingular/nextel are in a low signal area they sound like crap. cingular espically seems to get very bad when the signal is low. i talk to my aunt a lot on her cell phone (she has cingular) and there will be a ton of static thats so loud i cant understand anything shes saying and this is even when shes in an area with a great signal

in a good signal area sprint and verizon would tie first place for sound quality with tmobile being second and nextel and cingular being third
in a low signal area sprint would take first place with verizon being second and tmobile/cingular/nextel being third

 

Sorry, but this kind of nonsense needs to be countered. It is not a serious GSM vs other technology discussion. There are other factors influencing your 'crap' signal, not signal strength.

As an example, my first experience with GSM was with VoiceStream with a Moto phone (very high end moto in 1998, cost me $900, with contract). I remember being in Pasadena with no bars (just the VoiceStream logo showing) and the call was perfect, beyond belief.

Back east, with the Nokia 6230 (much better phone than the 6340i) there can be no difference between one bar and 7 bars in terms of voice quality.

I'm not saying that you don't hear crap signals, but the generalization that it is solely signal strength relate is sheer nonsense. More likely you don't have enough tower/cell capacity for the users in your area.

 

Or your phone is not very good. A 6230 is a good phone. Some of the cheaper(not inexpensive, cheasp there is a differenece) phones will give any network a bad name.

 

I agree 100%. Just last night, I did one of my little tests while I roamed on T-Mobile. As you all know, T-mobile is almost dead in my house so it makes a perfect testing area. I came in from outside listening to 1-800-555-TELL into my house. I looked at my phone as the signal went into the -100's dB and going up the stairs I read several times -110dB and -113dB and the audio was perfectly clear with just a couple of minor dropouts. This is GSM guys!

 

Sprint does pretty good here when it comes to the ringing. About 90% of the times it takes 1 or 2 rings for the phone to start ringing. Rarely more than that. Sometimes it rings instantaneously just like GSM, but not all the time. Also, going to voicemail without ringing is a rare problem. Those issues are in the past for the most part. Verizon is about the same. This is in NYC/NJ.

However, T-Mo and Cingular start ringing instantaneously on the first ring all the time. That's well known.

 

I dont think so. Cingular and Nextel have my entire county blanketed in coverage. Cingular used to not have enough capacity for my area, but the ATT merger has helped with that.

 

Interesting, however that is not exactly the case here in So. Cal. The delayed ring is still common as are calls rolling to VM without ringing. My theory on this is because there are too many low mounted antenna sites here causing the potential for pilot pollution, neighbor list errors, and I'm sure the 1900 Mhz frequency doesn't help either. It is not caused by capacity or lack of signal as some would like to claim. It's all about how the network is engineered and how that cell sites are layed out that determines which areas this happens and which is doesn't. Some areas that only have one or two bars of signal can have perfectly reliable incoming calls while other areas with 3-4 bars can have an incoming call failure rate of 20%. It's very weird and hard to explain. Outgoing calls always work perfectly.

 

I don't know the specific reason(s) why the audio sounds poor in Georgia or Utah. My comment is that GSM's audio quality can work very well in low signal areas and it was the very first thing that I've found very impressive with GSM. I just think that WA readers should not be left with the impression that it is an inherent GSM problem. I log about 1200 minutes a month (not counting N&W), and have placed calls under various conditions, so I have a lot of direct experience under my belt.

Best,
Viewfly

 

don't get me wrong, viewfly,
I have used GSM for years in Europe and for about a year here in the States, and GSM can have great audio quality even in bad areas, just like CDMA. There are many factors involved, and I'm sure that if Cingular was CDMA here it would be just as bad- their network is just not engineered, or fine tuned right.
I log about 2500-4000 minutes total per month on CDMA so I have a lot of experience under my belt as well You are correct, however, stating that WA readers should not be left with the impression that this is a GSM problem, because it's not. Any network not build out well can have this type of problem.

Andy

 

About 4-5 years ago, I traveled to Switzerland for the first time and remember using a GSM for the first time.

The sound quality of that conversation was far superior to the sound conversation at the time of my Nokia with AT&T service. I was actually amazed at the sound quality being produced from a cell phne and from that day was never really able to say that my TDMA phone produced good quality sound.

When GSM cam to my area, I quickly signed up because I wanted that great sound quality again. However, I found the sound quality to be better than CDMA but not as good as the quality I get when I am Europe. I guess that partly has to do with the advances and time Europe has had to prefect their system. Plus, many tell me that SWISSCOM is one of the finest provider in Europe for cell phon service. Other companies in Switzerland do not seem to produce the high quality calls that SWISSCOM does.

Dan

 

sorry for the delay in my response i havent checked this thread for a long time, lol, but yeah it takes 2-3 rings, and sometimes it won't come in at all, just showing "no data" or just staying blank only showing "incoming call"