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Date:      Mon, 22 Jan 2001 00:46:38 +0100
From:      Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
To:        "Michael C . Wu" <keichii@peorth.iteration.net>, Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc:        freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: VCD (was Re: cvs commit: src/sys/dev/ata atapi-cd.c)
Message-ID:  <v04220821b691222656eb@[10.0.1.2]>
In-Reply-To: <20010121165422.A44505@peorth.iteration.net>
References:  <200101211447.f0LElEk04073@mobile.wemm.org> <KAECKEJJOLGHAFGGNIKMAELICAAA.res02jw5@gte.net> <20010121145018.A73989@citusc17.usc.edu> <20010121165422.A44505@peorth.iteration.net>

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At 4:54 PM -0600 2001/1/21, Michael C . Wu wrote:

>  I ask the same questions about why Americans not using
>  GSM but PCS cell phones.  (FYI, the reason for using PCS in the U.S.
>  was a pure political reason, none other than America wanting
>  to "lead" the industry. :) )

	Qualcomm invented Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), the 
superior digital cell phone technology that is the basis for all 3G 
projects around the world.  CDMA is supplanting TDMA in the US, 
because it allows you to carry more calls in the same amount of 
frequency bandwidth than TDMA, the previous digital technology.

	Anybody that has to replace TDMA technology with CDMA technology 
winds up pretty much completely replacing the entire network they 
built, which is why it's still taking time to make this conversion in 
the US.  However, Europe made the "leap" to TDMA technology in GSM, 
before CDMA existed -- standard AMPS/NAMPS style analog cell phone 
technology had been stretched beyond its limits, and they had no 
choice but to go digital.


	Therefore, pretty much all European companies will end up ripping 
out their entire set of existing TDMA-based GSM networks and 
replacing them with brand-new CDMA-based 3G equipment.

	The same will happen in the US, as 3G takes over from existing 
TDMA, CDMA, AMPS/NAMPS networks, but at least many of those companies 
will have relatively less money thrown down the TDMA hole which they 
then have to completely write off.

>  But since the rest of the world uses SI units and GSM phones,
>  there is not much "leading" there.

	At least if you're in the US and you're in an area supposedly 
served by your carrier but their signal is too weak, you can roam on 
the networks in that same area that are operated by their competitors 
-- you can't do that over here.

	If you are in Belgium and a Proximus customer, and you're in an 
area where Proximus doesn't have coverage but Mobistar or KPN Orange 
do, you are screwed.  If you're a Belgian customer of Proximus and 
you're roaming outside the country, that's no problem -- so long as 
you're not on a "Pay and go" prepaid card (they never work outside 
the country of their issue).


	Of course, US phones also have the concept of "multiple NAMs" 
(Number Assignment Modules, i.e., account numbers), so that you can 
actually have accounts on multiple different carriers, and switch 
between them at your leisure.  Many allow up to 99 NAMs on a single 
phone.  Just try that with a GSM.

--
   These are my opinions -- not to be taken as official Skynet policy
======================================================================
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>


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