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General discussion

GSM Services Provider?

Jul 25, 2017 10:44PM PDT

How different is GSM to CDMA? Both works for telecom service providing, so what are basic differences?

Which is better to adopt?

Discussion is locked

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Let's not ignore what's on the web here.
Jul 26, 2017 8:45AM PDT

Let's get into why you asked. For example, CDMA is pretty much an USA thing. I found coverage to be spotty compared to ATT, Tmobile and others and being locked to the provider's phones a real pain.

Just on the lock alone I ignore CDMA and use GSM phones now. My service is from Ting.com.

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GSM Services Provider?
Dec 14, 2017 11:05PM PST

Both GSM and CDMA standards outline a way that phones are identified by carriers. In GSM phones, it's a removable chip called a SIM card. In theory, you can pop a SIM card out of a GSM phone and stick it in any other GSM phone. (Although a lot of phones are "locked" to a specific carrier, which is majorly annoying.) The CDMA standard describes something similar, called the RUIM (removable user ID module), but that hasn't really caught on. Instead, CDMA phones ship locked to one network, and can only be switched to another with the cooperation of both the old and new carriers.