Difference between CDMA and GSM

Global System for Mobile Communications (abbreviated as GSM) is one of the most popular standards used in mobile phones across the world. It boasts of 80 percent of the total global market share. Its direct competitors are CDMA, UMTS and NMT - with CDMA (which uses the Code Division Multiple Access technology) being the most promising among the lot. (One has to take a note of the fact that CDMA refers to CDMA one and CDMA 2000 when it comes to mobile phone systems.) Both GSM and CDMA have made great progress in the United States cell phone industry. While the manufacturers of these handsets continue to boast about the advantages of their products, the end consumer is left confused not knowing which type of handset to opt for - and this is exactly where understanding what is the difference between GSM and CDMA can come to your rescue.

Comparison Between GSM and CDMA

When GSM and CDMA handsets were newly introduced, building penetration of signals was one of the major issues which affected both these types of handsets, and hence the user had to come out in the open to avoid signal disruption. More recently, however, things have changed considerably. Both these players have made a great deal of progress owing to which penetration problem doesn't affect the users anymore. That being said, there do exist some factors which you need to take into consideration when choosing between GSM and CDMA - some of the most important ones among which are given below.

Speed: Even though CDMA handsets have always had an advantage over their GSM counterparts in terms of speed, more recently the difference between the two has narrowed down by a significant extent. Today, both GSM and CDMA 3G mobile phone handsets are available in the market and both promise amazing data transfer speeds. While CDMA has introduced EVDO or CDMA2000 to cement its position in the market, GSM has introduced EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) to do the same. Owing to this the speed factor doesn't quite hold ground in GSM vs CDMA comparison anymore, and as a user you need to look at the other aspects of the same before deciding whether to opt for GSM or CDMA.

Carrier: A basic difference between GSM and CDMA cell phones is the fact that GSM cell phones use SIM cards, while CDMA cell phones are directly linked to the carrier. If you are using a GSM enabled handset, you can change the service provider without having to change the handset. In case of CDMA enabled handsets, on the other hand, you need to change the handset in order to change your service provider as each CDMA handset has a particular carrier associated with it.

Availability: Both GSM and CDMA have made it to all the regions of the world. While GSM has made headway in the United States wherein CDMA has strong roots over the last decade or two, CDMA has also started making its presence felt in the Asian countries - which have been considered to be the GSM stronghold all this while. Coverage is no more an issue with both the technologies reaching virtually all corners of the world.

Roaming: When it comes to roaming, most of the GSM carriers have contract with other carriers owing to which they provide this service to their customers without charging for roaming. This facility is not provided by most of the CDMA carriers, and those few carriers which do provide this facility charge more as compared to their GSM counterparts. Similarly, the ability to change SIM works in favor of GSM handsets yet again when it comes to international roaming, as the user can simply buy a local SIM when out of the country and save the money which he would have to otherwise spend on international roaming charges.

Frequency Band: Yet another technical difference between GSM and CDMA is that GSM operates in 1900-MHz band, while CDMA operates 800-MHz and 1900-MHz frequency bands in the United States of America. The frequency band that these handsets support determine where and on which network the said handset can be used.

Those were the details about the difference between GSM and CDMA enabled handsets which you need to take into consideration when opting for either of the two. While both have emerged as major players in the global market, there are chances that the region where you stay may only have GSM or CDMA on offer. So you can start by finding out whether you have the option of choosing between the two or you have to go with whatever option is available. Similarly going through GSM vs UMTS will tell you which is suitable for you - that if you have UMTS service available in your region.

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