I have read that unlike GSM and TDMA, CDMA can get a signal from multiple towers at once. I have just recently switched to Verizon and have been very pleased with there signal strength, etc. But my question is if you put your phone down on a desk and look at the signal strength indicator, it jumps from 3 bars to 5, to 2, to 4, etc. (and i have not moved the phone an inch) -- is this because it is using multiple towers to get the best signal. With my old service, Cingular GSM, it stayed about the same (even though it was only 1 bar or No Service).
I think it depends on the phone and the sensitivity of the phone. I had Verizon back in 1999 when it was Ameritech and HATED it for the 2 years. My signal always did that too, up, down, up, down. 5 bars, 1 bar, 3 bars, 1 bar, 5 bars constantly. When I had my Cingular Nokia 5160 it stayed pretty constant. It would only drop one at a time and go up one at a time. Now with my 6340i, again it is like the Verizon meter. 7(full) bars down to 2 bars up to 5 bars to 3 bars. It usually moves fast like that if I am touching the phone and/or moving around too. If it is just sitting on the desk charging or whatever it will slowly drop 1 or 2 bars and go back up, slowly.....not as jumpy as touching/moving the phone.
I think the signal strength does move a lot due to sensitivity of the phone. My mom has a Moto T720 w/ Verizon and it just jumps all over the place with signal. I never was found of her phone however because it drops call frequently.
ok the t720 sucks...and everoyne knows it...well most of us former t720 users think so anyways....the vx4400 is so much better...even the v60i from moto is good.....no as fa as the signal jumping...yes verizon phone can recive signal from multiple towers at once so if you working in ahigh res you will notice that cdma works alot better than gsm...if everything else is equal...gsm has something called frequency hoping(which t-mobile uses but not att for some reason or another) but its just not as effective as the bieng able to recive from multiple towers as with cdma....a cdma phone can have one bar of service and the call can still be clear...
I've found that CDMA and (surprisingly) iDEN do best with low signal (but iDEN can get really bad if there's a lot of interference.) IS-136 and GSM are worse. -SC
roamer1--Okay, I've gotta ask now. What's the big attraction to GSM? The CDMA footprint in America is MUCH more built-out, the call quality is really clear ("I've found that CDMA and (surprisingly) iDEN do best with low signal " and I've always thought so myself from my experience), and the 1xRTT data transfer speeds are so much faster than GPRS and even EDGE (I think...not sure about EDGE). Why would someone choose GSM when they have all that CDMA has to offer on a much more reliable network?
what can i say.. people will do anything to save a buck. The majority of people base their decisions off cost alone.... after their 1/2 year mistake is over they usually change their idealogy on wireless.
I disagree. I think that most people base their decision on wireless by who has the largest coverage area. Then they realize that the quality of the service is really bad. Coverage is not everything. There are a lot of other factors to consider. Who cares if CDMA covers most of the US if you do not travel the entire US.
It seems that most people choose GSM for one or more of the following reasons: 1) cost of plans -- much more so with T-Mobile than Cingular and AT&T 2) "cool" phones -- GSM phones tend to get features before CDMA phones (and iDEN phones, the only source for which is Motorola) 3) SIMs/change phones at will 4) international roaming Coverage is usually NOT one of the reasons cited. -SC
The reason I orginally got Cingular GSM was because in 1998 (Bellsouth DCS) it had the best plans and there were not as many competitors as there are today -- the reasons i switched to Verizon are because of Cingular poor signal/spotty US GSM coverage and horrible Customer service. The SIM card and international roaming capability i think are a major reason why a lot of people get GSM because they have the security of knowing they can change phones whenever they want and that they can go anywhere in the world and still be able to use their phone.
cuz gsm companies do a better job of advertising. their commercials are cooler. Verizon has bad commercials and sprint cosistantly gets the lowest or close to the lowest ratings in consumer reports regarding both their customer service and their network quality.
your forgetting that there also are some major advantages to GSM. despite that fact that most consumers dont know or care: gsm phones get much much better battery life and call quality is better (in my opinion), gsm can also handle larger conference calls, and seems to do much better at auto-redialing. its not like cdma just kills gsm and there is no attraction to it. despite the fact that the cdma footprint is larger, gsm now covers most major transportation routes, all major airports, and most major vacation spots as well as every major/medium sized city. gsm may not have the cdma footprint, but for most people its plenty big. especially for those buying local plans, why should they really care about coverage in the UP of Michigan if they live in Atlanta?
lowtech... i don't see how you could say any company does better at advertising than VZW. Yes, "Can you hear me now" is somewhat old but it's probably the only phrase and defnitely the first phrase people know when referring to a cellphone company. Not just the commercials VZW has more billboards up than any other carrier (the only one around here that seems to use billboards), live remotes (common w/ most carriers i guess), as well as other advertising methods. I could almost guarantee VZW spends more money adveritsing than any other carrier in the nation.
To get back to the original question, some CDMA phones use what is called an SQE, or Signal Quality Estimator. One thing that makes CDMA unique is the frequency re-use. However, the more crowded a site gets, even though the actual RF is strong, the bandwidth is more crowded, and thus the phone (and base station) have to do more work to pull out each subscriber unit's signal from all the others. Think of it this way, it as if you are in a restaraunt and are having a conversation with your wife across the table. As it progresses, more and more people enter the same room. The noise level begins to rise and thus, you have to project your voice and she has to concentrate a little more to hear what you are saying. CDMA operates the same way. Some have called this "cell site" shrinkage. As the bandwidth becomes crowded with users, your phone must "work" harder to hear the signal intended for it. It can vary from hour to hour and minute by minute. Other things can increase the noise floor and thus the signal stregnth reading fluctuates. The other possibility as pointed out is just that the phone has a poorer RF deck in it that is not as sensitive to weak signals. Most CDMA phones have retractable antennas, it is a good idea to keep them fully extended when possible. Especially if your carrier runs on 1900MHz instead of 800MHz, you may want to place your phone near a window.
