What do cdma and gsm mean

Learn more. When consumers think about mobile network providers, their primary concern is with regards to coverage, quality, support, pricing, and other factors but when you pick a network carrier, you also make the choice between a GSM network or a CDMA network, at least in the US. You have probably come across these terms in the past when picking a mobile phone, or when first joining, or switching, network carriers, but what do they mean and what is the difference between the two?

GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication and is now considered the standard for communication globally, particularly in Asia and Europe, with its availability in over countries worldwide.

The GSM Association is an international organization founded in with the goal of developing and overseeing the expansion of the GSM wireless standard. With GSM, our voice is transformed into digital data, which is given a channel and a time slot. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to newer technology. Watch for these technologies to be gradually phased out and for connectivity to improve. Popular Articles Quad what and octa who? A quick guide to processor lingo.

Android Lollipop: Our favorite features. Top 10 battery tips for your smartphone or tablet. The future of CDMA vs. This content is provided for information purposes only.

Some users get to know 5G already as the U. Paul, Minnesota, and Washington, DC. This next generation of mobile broadband will beat the latest 4G. Also, it possibly retires the 3G. It will play a significant role in the technology industries through the use of connected devices. It is the use of connected devices. At the same time, users have to follow the terms and conditions of their CDMA carriers if they wish to switch phones.

The call quality of both nationwide networks heavily depends on the network coverage. Furthermore, the GSM network can transmit voice and data simultaneously. On the other hand, not all CDMA phones can transmit voice and data at the same time. GSM uses ore dedicated network towers plus it enables worldwide roaming. In contrary, CDMA network towers are more widespread, has a higher coverage but only limited roaming options.

What is GSM? So watching a video, downloading apps or just browsing on a website is faster. It works better in real time. You will never notice pauses in voice calls or in online games. They were both developed in the early nineties for 2G connectivity. Europeans, though, agreed on GSM, as did the rest of the world.

Fortunately, engineers agreed on a new cellular system for 4G connectivity. Carriers designed LTE for data. Moreover, the four carriers provide LTE on different frequency bands. They sell phones that only work on their frequencies, making it difficult to switch. You can put a SIM from one phone into a newer one, and all your info like phone number and plan will go to the new phone.

They used embedded serial numbers to identify their users to carriers. This meant three things:. Thus, most newer phones also take SIM cards.

Does that mean you can switch phones between carriers? It will be easier, but you still have to make sure your phone has different frequency bands. We could send you a Starter Kit for free to see if it works.