Not surprising. With the world practically walking away from CDMA (and a few manufacturers, Nokia in particular, outright ceasing all CDMA phone production), it would be smart for Verizon to eventually transition to GSM at some point. It might help them on the "cool phone" front, too.
What part of "WCDMA" do you not understand? GSM is a TDMA technology. WCDMA is a CDMA technology. LTE, at least what we expect, will be an OFDM technology.
EDGE is an evolution of GSM.
WCDMA HSDPA is an evolution of WCDMA UMTS.
But between those levels there's a hard break in technologies - you have to install all new radios and there's a different IP portfolio you have to deal with. Qualcomm owns about 20% of the WCDMA patents, for instance.
Sorry, i mean to write "Verizon is now switching" not "Verizon is not switching". That one letter changes the whole sentence :) read what i said below about HSDPA being "GSM" when it's not the same even the same technology. i know what you're talking about and i'm not confused as to how it works.
Sascha needs to do some research. WCDMA is not CDMA technology and is not compatible with CDMA. It is, though, compatible with GSM. It's a CDMA-like technology that runs on top of a GSM network. Try Wikipedia for more information.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
??? @ Sep 21st 2007 1:49AM
Not surprising. With the world practically walking away from CDMA (and a few manufacturers, Nokia in particular, outright ceasing all CDMA phone production), it would be smart for Verizon to eventually transition to GSM at some point. It might help them on the "cool phone" front, too.
Sascha @ Sep 21st 2007 9:42AM
Actually, Nokia is a huge player in WCDMA, and they're fighting with Qualcomm in a bloody battle over licensing fees for WCDMA IP.
Not all CDMA is US-version 850/1900 EVDO 1xRTT CDMA2000. Most of the CDMA in the world is WCDMA.
ShortFuse @ Sep 21st 2007 10:11AM
WCDMA is NOT a CDMA technology. WCDMA is a GSM evolution. Basically, it works like this:
GSM = 3GPP Project
CDMA = 3GPP2 Project
3GPP = GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS (WCDMA), HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, LTE
3GPP2 = CDMAONE, CDMA2000, EV-DO, UMB
Verizon used the 3GPP2 track but is not switching to the 3GPP (GSM) track.
Sascha @ Sep 21st 2007 10:26AM
Sorry, "ShortFuse."
What part of "WCDMA" do you not understand? GSM is a TDMA technology. WCDMA is a CDMA technology. LTE, at least what we expect, will be an OFDM technology.
EDGE is an evolution of GSM.
WCDMA HSDPA is an evolution of WCDMA UMTS.
But between those levels there's a hard break in technologies - you have to install all new radios and there's a different IP portfolio you have to deal with. Qualcomm owns about 20% of the WCDMA patents, for instance.
ShortFuse @ Sep 21st 2007 10:38AM
Sorry, i mean to write "Verizon is now switching" not "Verizon is not switching". That one letter changes the whole sentence :)
read what i said below about HSDPA being "GSM" when it's not the same even the same technology. i know what you're talking about and i'm not confused as to how it works.
Kriston @ Sep 26th 2007 3:56PM
Sascha needs to do some research.
WCDMA is not CDMA technology and is not compatible with CDMA. It is, though, compatible with GSM.
It's a CDMA-like technology that runs on top of a GSM network.
Try Wikipedia for more information.