This got a little longer than intended -- it's mostly a comparison of Sprint CDMA service with T-Mobile GSM service in the Twin Cities and along I-94 between here and Madison. T-Mobile lies about coverage, and other things, so I can't use their service. Much more below... I had a Sprint CDMA phone for almost 10 years. Before that I had a T-Mobile GSM phone, but that was only until about 2003 or 2004 -- it didn't last long because I thought the coverage was really poor. So now I'm switching back to T-Mobile from Sprint and I'm hoping that T-Mobile has improved, but as you will see below, it hasn't improved enough. I think Chuck and Yaron both make excellent points, and though they disagree on which system (GSM or CDMA) they'd choose, I see little disagreement about the facts, just a disagreement about preferences. I have been aware of the things they are talking about and the issues are major considerations in my choice of carrier. CDMA is most common in the USA, but it is rare elsewhere, while GSM is all over most of the rest of the world. Sometimes I go to Ecuador or to Europe and both are GSM-only. It would be really cool if I could swap out a SIM card in Europe or Ecuador and keep on using my phone, but I'm not there very often and I've always gotten by without my phone. Meanwhile, the other 97% of the time I'm here in the USA, and about 93% of the time in the Twin Cities, and I'm trying to get things done here. Thus, how the phone works in the USA, and especially in the Twin Cities, is much more important to me than how it works in other nations. I do want to help promote GSM, but if the service is bad here, I'm not going to use GSM. Now that I've had the T-Mobile phone for a few days, I can tell you this... I drove to Madison and back this weekend. Along the way, I checked every few miles and I found that there was no point between the Twin Cities and Madison (on I-94) where I could get an internet connection with my T-Mobile Nexus 4 -- nothing, ever. In Madison, I had no internet connection -- no G4, no G3, no G-anything, no internet service at all. The phone service seemed to be working at most points along the way, but not always, and it went to roaming at many points. My wife was with me and she used her Sprint (CDMA) iPhone often and with great success. She had G3 service most of the way and was doing things like streaming Curious George videos from PBS Kids, uninterrupted,, full shows, no problem, while I had *no* *internet* at all on my T-Mobile GSM supposedly-G4 Nexus 4 phone. It was totally worthless. The service within my home also matters to me. Sprint phone service in my home works very poorly. Because of that, we bought a cordless phone and a NetTalk Duo, and that works well. I also have CenturyLink internet service, which should nearly always work, so we can cope with poor cellular phone service in the home. It is nice to see that T-Mobile works all over the house, even in the back of the basement, while Sprint drops calls almost everywhere in the house except for next to one south window. But, strangely, I can get the internet on the Sprint phone to work in the house, which has been very helpful when the CenturyLink wire has been torn down by trucks passing in the alley (I think they have raised the wire high enough this time that it won't come down), and I cannot get the T-Mobile internet service to work in my home -- phone, but no internet. I was surprised that T-Mobile gives no internet in Madison, nor at any point between the Twin Cities and Madison along I-94. I thought service along major highways was a priority. The phone mostly worked along I-94, but not the internet service. Sprint worked *much* better. So how do I decide what I want? Here are the issues: (1) phone service in the Twin Cities - possibly a tie, but not thoroughly tested (2) internet service in the Twin Cities - Sprint is ahead, but not thoroughly tested (3) phone service in my home -- T-Mobile wins by a wide margin (4) phone service between here and Madison -- Sprint seems to win (5) internet service between here and Madison -- Sprint by a landslide (6) internet service in my home -- Sprint wins, nothing for T-Mobile (7) phone service in Ecuador -- T-Mobile (GSM) wins (8) phone service in other parts of the USA -- not sure. (9) internet service in other parts of the USA -- not sure. So I'm not liking T-Mobile service very much. I will probably try another carrier, maybe Verizon, to see how that works for me. T-Mobile blew it first by overcharging me by $300 for the Nexus 4 phone. Their next problem was having *nothing* for internet between here and Madison, and nothing in Madison. Pretty lame. The T-Mobile coverage maps are a scam and a lie. Check this out: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx/ Zoom to a level where you can see the Twin Cities on one side and Madison on the other, look at the 3G/4G map. It shows "excellent" coverage the entire way along I-94. Now zoom in two levels and you will see that the "excellent" coverage magically disappears and is replaced by 2G, at best, most of the way. However, my phone never reported any 2G service, anywhere, and it gave me no internet at all and no web apps worked at all. In other words, T-Mobile has been lying to me and ripping me off and I'm done with them. Mike On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >>> I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of >> the world, >> ... >>> Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >>> everybody else. >> >> Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. >> Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their >> infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when >> they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. >> >> Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people >> fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. >> Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also >> something that doesn't happen other places. >> >> I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm >> not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere >> in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But >> when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA >> phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. > > The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT defines > a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide > doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated > about majority. > > Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. > > > Chuck > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >