CDMA Vs GPRS Vs GSM Vs WiLL

by N » Tue Feb 18, 2003 5:08 pm

in laymans language, can any one please explain how these are different and how they would effect the customer.

by **vivek of themavericks** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 5:19 pm

Your first part of the question is a technical one so CSE and ECE guys can tell ya. But from a cusumre point of view. Its a business issue. CDMA would be chaper and be cost effective to the common man not because of the technology permits.but because indian govt. wants it that way. GSm is a popular format and is newer than CDMA. GSM is accpted worldwide. CDMA was used in the armies

by **Shaad-Aabaad** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 7:24 pm

You can mark out differences between the four if the topics are at par. That is not the case here. GSM is a
mobile telephone system based on the TDMA networking protocol. CDMA is another
networking protocol by itself and is used to run the WiLL telephone system.
Hence TDMA is to GSM what CDMA is to WiLL! Then again GPRS is a service that is
an based on GSM; you can say it is an enhancement. Together with other
technologies it is part of an evolution of wireless mobile telecommunication
that includes High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HCSD), Enhanced Data GSM
Environment (EDGE), and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS). 
 
GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile
telephone system. GSM uses a variation of time division multiple access (TDMA)
and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies
(TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a
channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It
operates at either the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency band. 
 
CDMA (code-division multiple access) is a form of multiplexing, which
allows numerous signals to occupy a single transmission channel, optimizing the
use of available bandwidth. The technology is used in ultra-high-frequency (UHF)
cellular telephone systems in the 800-MHz and 1.9-GHz bands. The CDMA channel is
nominally 1.23 MHz wide. The combination of digital and spread-spectrum modes
supports several times as many signals per unit bandwidth as analog modes. 
 
GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) is a packet-based wireless
communication service that promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and
continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users. The
higher data rates will allow users to take part in video conferences and
interact with multimedia Web sites and similar applications using mobile
handheld devices as well as notebook computers. 
 
I hope I have answered your question. Others, please feel free to correct me or
to expand on what I have stated.

by **Nyx!** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 10:42 am

Shaad Bhai! I just want to know which one wud be good if u have relatives in KSA, USA, and Canada.. kindly reply

by **Shaad-Aabaad** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 11:21 am

Neither...stick to the net and VoIP!!

by **Raghu** » Thu Feb 20, 2003 10:56 pm

Vivek, you couldn\'t be more wrong. GSM is essentially a band aid on top of the old TDMA technology. It was one of the older systems and was pioneered by europe and got a lot of help from regulation in europe mandating the use of gsm. India went the gsm way initially for mobile comm. China on the other hand sold the billion people market very effectivey to the west to extract several concessions and access to WTO as CDMA is essentially an American technology. CDMA is a late bloomer, but it does have distinct advantages to the network operators as it has more capacity per capita than TDMA based GSM. That is the reason why CDMA is cheaper. Another technology that was developed (or sort of customized for our environment) was the Digitally enhanced cordless telephony by Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala from IIT, Madras.
 
Coming to Shaad-Abaad\'s statement that \"TDMA is to GSM what CDMA is to WiLL\", it is not true either. WiLL is just a concept that you do not need copper cables running from your home to the central office for you to have a phone line. This could be done wireless. You could have WLL systems based on any physical layer, like GSM, CDMA, DECT etc. (GSM, CDMA are essentially physical layers but GSM also has some of the functions of the higher layers as it has detailed messaging protocols. You could really have a GSM network running on top of a CDMA physical layer).

by **peeping tom** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 10:36 am

Definitely CDMA IS cheaper than GSM. In the city, Reliance, Tata Mobitel and Tarang (from BSNL-WLL) are using CDMA technology and are cheaper. They are much cheaper than GSM like AIRTEL, HUTCH, IDEA, EXCEL and CELLONE. Slowly these GSMs will die. Don\'t misread my statement, but the guys still using GSM mobile phones are definitely fools. CDMA is improving with the capability of roaming too. I am a common individual, not an agent.

by **Shaad-Aabaad** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 11:38 am

Thanks man...I appreciate the clarification.

by **peeping tom** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:06 pm

Sorry, a small correction... Now even the GSM phones like Airtel and Idea are giving all free incoming calls. I think the GSM companies are fighting hard to make their charges close to CDMA. Good luck GSMs!

by **Shaad Aabaad** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 4:03 pm

hey Nyx...found something of interest to you and to this board...
 http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/mar/11spec.htm

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