hey, there is some rumor going around in radio shack that says verizon is comming out with GSM phones... what the f , is this correct?
The Samsung a790 is being launched in the business channel on Monday, it is a Global phone, which for Verizon means it will operate domestically on CDMA and intenationally on GSM (no domestic GSM). This will allow them to take advantage of Vodaphones GSM coverage and roaming agreements in the rest of the world, Vodaphone will be selling the same model in their markets for use in the US. This could have a big effect on international users...something cdma carriers have not been able to easily tap into in the past. The A790 will have some limited PIM functionalites as well as a built in camera. And yes it will even have a SIM card, however it's SIM will not be able to be used with any other phone or carrier, as well as no other carrier will be able to use their SIM's in the phone.
wow, so it is true! so wait, why cant it be used with any other GSM carrier? does it have some sort of coding?
Verizon from what I heard set-up romaing and texting agreements with Vodafone and internationally you can roam with them but while in the US you won't be using GSM at all.
To clarify: The phone supports CDMA on the 800 and 1900 bands. These are the bands used in North America, as well as limited places in the rest of the world like Korea. The phone also supports GSM on the 900 and 1800 bands. These are the standard bands used by the rest of the world, including Europe and most of Asia. In the US, there are no cellular networks deployed on the 900 or 1800 bands, so there will be no support for North America GSM.
It's all about GSM for now, as much as I like the idea of a CDMA/GSM phone, it won't take off yet. I want to see what the GSM carriers will do about this. Pritesh
ohhh, GSM 900 and 1800.... i didnt think of that, that's why it wont work here... sneaky i tell you!!!
Everyone will have compatible phones in the future, my guess is that they will be hybrids like the a790. The pro gsm and pro cdma camps have both invested so much in networks to go any different way in th forseable future. It's going to be the handset that will make the difference.
And now that Vodaphone customers who travel to the US will be able to take advantage of Verizon's network, and their home networks as well, I believe Vodaphone will finally be happy with their redheadded stepchild of Verizon Wireless.
I think the world might be heading to CDMA. Some European nations are starting to deploy 450MHz CDMA2000 1XEV-DO, starting with Czech Republic and Portugal. And much of eastern Europe has already launched CDMA. And China Unicom, being one of the largest operator in Asia, is fully supporting CDMA, and will bring CDMA back into Hong Kong.
I just really don't see why someone from Europe would buy that phone when a GSM only phone iwll work fine here...
Only reason I would see is roaming for Vodaphone customers in the US will be cheaper on Verizon than on AT&T/Cingular, or T-Mobile
I don't see why anyone from Europe would buy it, because if I am not mistaken it cannot do data on GSM, only CDMA.
Don't forget that overseas Vodafone customers will have to buy a hybrid CDMA/GSM phone for them to be able to roam on Verizon in the US. Otherwise, they will be roaming on a US GSM carrier. It will take some time for Vodafone customers around the world who travel to the US to switch to a CDMA/GSM phone.
Vodaphone is launching this phone at the same time as Verizon...stangly enough I was in Beaufort, SC and ran into two tourist from UK using Vodaphone last week, they were interested, as they were having problems with their gsm only phone here.
does anyone with a GSM phone ever roam? i mean, most people who travel to europe, or to america (meaning the continent), i would suspect, do not use their phones, unless they are bussiness people. everyone goes site seeing and does turist activities, so there is no time to call your buddies back home to chat about how hairy women are or how hot australia is in "winter" in january. would you go to paris, london, or even sidney, and take your phone with you, and call your friends and say "hey man, im calling you from paris!!"? i would think most, if not all, people will not do that because it is a total waste of money on a totally useless conversation. if you need to call home, which happens not that often, you can use a payphone, or even the hotel phone. and if you would really want to use your phone in another country (maybe to test their networks), you would only use it a minute or 2, since the call is soooo expensive. I dont think any sane person ever does international roaming, unless you're a bussiness man/woman (in which case, being educated, would know about the benefits of unlocking), or if you are so rich you dont care about the ultra high roaming fees.
In Europe, countries tend to be smaller than many American states (if not cities -- think the likes of Luxembourg and Lichtenstein), so international roaming by Europeans in other parts of Europe (and parts of Asia and northern Africa, etc.) is as common as Americans using their phone in another state. Europeans/etc. roaming in the US/Canada and Americans/Canadians roaming in Europe/etc. isn't quite as common, if only because it's more difficult to roam between North America and the rest of the world as it should be...especially if you're using VZW or another CDMA carrier. And no, it isn't just high-powered execs and celebrities (and cell phone geeks like the people here on WA ) who roam internationally, although those seem to be the people that do most often. -SC
Is there something unique about the "A790" SIM -- like it storing data about the CDMA side of the phone -- that prevents it from being used in a normal (unlocked) GSM phone? It seems weird that I can use an iDEN (Nextel) SIM in an unlocked GSM phone but (according to this statement) not a SIM from an A790... -SC
That's no surprise -- Vodafone and T-Mobile don't play well together. Now if they were on Cingular, all bets are off (although the former BS DCS area does have a good reputation as far as intl. roaming in and out goes.) -SC
Are we sure Vodafone is going to be selling this? As Matt said, it does not support GPRS. To me it would be stupid for anyone who uses GSM natively to buy it even if it had GPRS, but without GPRS, I can't imagine Voda would even sell it.
I think I read somewhere that the model that would be sold in Europe would be opposite of the one that is sold here, in that the data would only work on GPRS and not in CDMA mode. Now the Motorola hybrid phone, that will work in both modes, I dont really like Motorola phones, but if I were in need of a phone for traveling to Europe, I think I would be buying that one.
Are there countries that only do GSM {or Vodafone has} at 800 (850) or 1900?? if that is true then they would need a be able to do GSM on Cellular and/or PCS.
If GSM could penetrate buildings like CDMA can i would probably be using one right now, GSM has much better handsets to offer...
yes, in latin america some countries do. just like africa follows what europe does, latin america and canada follow what the USA does, so down there you will find most countries that use GSM use 1900. mexico and bolivia, for example, use only 1900. panama uses 850. most other countries use both 1900 and 850. a few use the european bands, such as venezuela, brazil, and costa rica. in this link you can click on any countri in the world and see their network: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml
