Overall Coverage
1. The largest coverage in the US is Verizon (but even they have their downsides-most of it is analog backup)
2. The best sound quality is GSM which is TMobile/Cingular/ATTWS
3. GSM is the worldwide technology.
4. CDMA gets better coverage in buildings.
Does this clear a few things up?
1900Mhz has its benefits, too, such as less interference on other electronics like radios, TV's etc. There is also more spectrum available to 1900Mhz than to 850Mhz. However, remember when we brought the FIRST GSM network to the united states, the FCC decided it had to be 1900mhz, or else we would have brought the 900/1800 mhz currently used everywhere else outside of north america. Also, because of the smaller towers we use, many of which ar...
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About the personal coverage check and interactive coverage map, is that available online or just a T-Mo store?
Hey thanks, guys...The PCC is only available at stores right now. I assume this is because if left as a tool on T-Mobile.com, without having the knowledge as to how to interpret what you are seeing, it could be quite confusing to some people. Any corporate store, indirect I'm not sure, has the PCC available and can pull it up for ya anytime.
T-Mobile *cannot* use 850/800. The only carriers that can use it are those that are assigned cellular licenses. PCS (1900) operators are more prevalent because there's more PCS spectrum available. There are only two cellular licensees in each market and usually one of them is a CDMA operator (such as Verizon) and the other one is usually either cingular or AT&T Wireless (which are now a combined company.) The only way T-Mobile can offer native 800/850 coverage is if they buy a cellular operator.
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/509.html »
""This is a major milestone in the expansion of GSM services in the Americas as GSM is the most widely deployed standard in the world," says K-P Wilska, President, Nokia, Inc., Americas, "A major benefit of GSM 850 is that it enables existing TDMA carriers as well as new GSM carriers to benefit from the global success of GSM.GSM is currently the most extensively used digital cellular network technology in the world and has more than 550 million subscribers worldwide and successful deployments in over 170 countries. According to Nokia, offering GSM enhanced with GPRS and EDGE will bring new 3G opportunities to...
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But since T-Mobile does not even have any 800/850 spectrum to begin with it's a moot point. They cannot use it because they are not licensed to use it. The only way T-Mobile could use it is if they bought a cellular carrier (i.e. one that uses 800/850.)
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