Hotpete
Firstly, CDMA, as we have at present, is going to be disconnected in 2008.
It has been a brilliant system, with excellent inflight reception,
and no bursts of electrical noise and interference that GSM needs to refresh its cellular connection.
The coverage has been excellent in the bush and the top end because every community with a population of more than 500
was eligible for its own cell under the Govt TSI program.
CDMA is growing and expanding in NZ, USA, Sth Africa, however,
Telstra has committed to the next level of CDMA, namely 850 WCDMA, named by them as "NextG".
850 WCDMA has similar propogation characteristics to CDMA, with a slightly improved on the ground range,
CDMA has a nominal 62 km range, 850 WCDMA (NextG) has 84 km.
For Telstra, the economics are good, some 80% of the CDMA hardware is retained and reused.
On the downside, as with the introduction of CDMA, Telstra, for reasons of its own,
declined to partner with Nokia, and distanced themselves from users of the market leader.
Yes, they've done it again, no Nokia yet, but its coming.
I delayed my move to CDMA until Nokia joined the game with the excellent 6385 CDMA phone,
which I retained until I dropped it and saw it run over by the fuel truck.
I then replaced it with the brilliant and fully featured 6255, complete with in flight Wx radar for all BoM sites.
I am again holding out until Nokia joins the party.
Despite the il informed comments by Telstra shop employees, Nokia has Next G compliant phones,
and the Cingular network in the states has Nokia 850 WCDMA.
Whisper on the street here is that Nokia should join late February with their excellent N series.
Right now, the only stand out phone on 850 WCDMA (NextG) is the Motorola Maxxr V6, which is giving reasonable performance.
Most of the NextG handsets are capable of auto band selecting,
i.e. they can access 850 Wcdma, 1900 Wcdma / GSM and 2100 Wcdma / GSM, the more widely known 3G network.
A friend of mine regularly visits all remote communities across the topend, East and West.
He will be off on his quarterly trip this time with a Samsung NextG handset,
and will be able to report back on the CDMA vs 850 Wcdma coverage on a before and after basis.
Personally, I will wait until Nokia enters the market here, which they will.
in the meantime, google "Cingular" and "850 CDMA" for information that Telstra shops cant give you.
Last edited by Mainframe; 24th Jan 2007 at 21:13.
Reason: Typo's