How to choose between CDMA and GSM cell phone systems – Part 3
While CDMA technology currently offers greater coverage and connection speed in North America, one should most definitely void this technology if one values flexibility.
All the fancy phones you read and hear about on the news, online, or through friends? The Apple iPhone, the D&G RAZR, the Prada Phone, etc., etc., are all GSM handsets. CDMA technology is definitely North-America-centric, offering laughably miserable roaming support overseas. The major carriers, as such, seem generally inclined to produce their best for the global market, and not just for use in North America.
On a practical level, other articles have already mentioned the flexibility and freedom that GSM technology offers, through the use of SIM cards. You can travel the world and expect coverage, you can change and upgrade phones at will, so long as they’re unlocked, and you can transfer your phonebook easily, just with a simple SIM card swap.
All of those above benefits, inversed, are serious draw-backs of CDMA technology. On a practical level, not only do you sacrifice flexibility with CDMA, you’re stuck on a very short, and very expensive leash with your carrier. One CDMA carrier, in Canada, for instance, that will remain unnamed, charges fees very liberally for the simplest of tasks that would be completely free with a GSM carrier. Just think: $25 fee to change your service over from one phone to another (even if you’ve paid full price for both), $10 to have your phonebook copied from one phone to another. You can see how these can add up!
Personally, I have one GSM SIM card, and multiple handsets. Nowadays, when phones are becoming fashion accessories, as much as communications tools, I can switch phones at will, to suit whatever occasion I encounter. I use a slimmer phone for going out, a cheaper, hardier handset for trips to the beach, barbecues, etc. It’s all quite convenient, and I can’t imagine what this flexibility would begin to cost with a CDMA carrier!