This article will help you understand the characteristics between their

underlying technologies and unravel the differences between the GSM, EDGE,
CDMA and TDMA cell phone technology standards.

Understanding various cell phone acronyms doesn’t need to be complicated.

This article makes it simple.

1. GSM::GSM reigns as the world’s most widely used cell phone technology.
Cell phone carriers T-Mobile and AT&T use GSM for their networks.
2. EDGE::EDGE is faster than GSM and is built upon GSM.
3. CDMA::CDMA competes with GSM today. Sprint, Virgin Mobile and Verizon
Wireless use the CDMA technology standard in the U.S.
4. TDMA::TDMA, which predates the more advanced GSM technology standard,
has been incorporated into GSM. TDMA is no longer in use by the major U.S. cell
phone service carriers.

CMDA
Also see CDMA One, CDMA2000, and WCDMA. Compare time-division multiplex (TDM)
and frequency-division multiplex (FDM).

CDMA (code-division multiple access) refers to any of several protocols used in so-
called second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) wireless communications. As
the term implies, CDMA is a form of multiplexing, which allows numerous signals to
occupy a single transmission channel, optimizing the use of available bandwidth. The
technology is used in ultra-high-frequency (UHF) cellular telephone systems in the 800-
MHz and 1.9-GHz bands.

CDMA employs analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) in combination with spread spectrum

technology. Audio input is first digitized into binary elements. The frequency of the
transmitted signal is then made to vary according to a defined pattern (code), so it can
be intercepted only by a receiver whose frequency response is programmed with the
same code, so it follows exactly along with the transmitter frequency. There are trillions
of possible frequency-sequencing codes; this enhances privacy and makes cloning
difficult.

The CDMA channel is nominally 1.23 MHz wide. CDMA networks use a scheme called
soft handoff, which minimizes signal breakup as a handset passes from one cell to
another. The combination of digital and spread-spectrum modes supports several times
as many signals per unit bandwidth as analog modes. CDMA is compatible with other
cellular technologies; this allows for nationwide roaming.

The original CDMA standard, also known as CDMA One and still common in cellular
telephones in the U.S., offers a transmission speed of only up to 14.4 Kbps in its single
channel form and up to 115 Kbps in an eight-channel form. CDMA2000 and wideband
CDMA deliver data many times faster.

TDMA
TDMA (time division multiple access) is a technology used in digital cellular telephone
communication that divides each cellular channel into three time slots in order to
increase the amount of data that can be carried.

TDMA is used by Digital-American Mobile Phone Service (D-AMPS), Global System for
Mobile communications (GSM), and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC). However, each of
these systems implements TDMA in a somewhat different and incompatible way. An
alternative multiplexing scheme to FDMA with TDMA is CDMA (code division multiple
access), which takes the entire allocated frequency range for a given service and
multiplexes information for all users across the spectrum range at the same time.

TDMA was first specified as a standard in EIA/TIA Interim Standard 54 (IS-54). IS-136, an
evolved version of IS-54, is the United States standard for TDMA for both the cellular
(850 MHz) and personal communications services (1.9 GHz) spectrums. TDMA is also
used for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT).

GSM
GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephone system
that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of time
division multiple access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital
wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and
compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data,
each in its own time slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency
band.

GSM is the de facto wireless telephone standard in Europe. GSM has over 120 million
users worldwide and is available in 120 countries, according to the GSM MoU
Association. Since many GSM network operators have roaming agreements with foreign
operators, users can often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to
other countries.

American Personal Communications (APC), a subsidiary of Sprint, is using GSM as the

technology for a broadband personal communications service (PCS). The service will
ultimately have more than 400 base stations for the palm-sized handsets that are being
made by Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia. The handsets include a phone, a text pager,
and an answering machine.

GSM together with other technologies is part of an evolution of wireless mobile

telecommunication that includes High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HCSD), General
Packet Radio System (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and Universal
Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS).

CDMA Vs TDMA in travel:

Both GSM and CDMA can be found across United States, which doesn’t mean
that it doesn’t matter which technology we choose. When we travel
domestically it is possible that we reach areas where digital service is not
available. While traveling between places it is possible that we reach certain
rural areas were only analog access is offered. CDMA handsets offer analog
capabilities which the GSM don’t offer. Another difference between GSM and
CDMA is in the data transfer methods. GSM’s high-speed wireless data
technology, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), usually offers a slower data
bandwidth for wireless data connection than CDMA’s high-speed technology,
which
has the capability of providing ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) with
speeds as much as 144Kbps. GSM’s benefits over the CDMA in domestic purpose are
that GSM uses SIM card that identifies a user and stores the information in the handset.
The SIM card can be swapped between handsets, which enable to move all the contacts
to the new handset with ease. CDMA can have this flexibility with their own service that
stores data on the operator’s database. This service allows the user to swap data’s
between two handsets with a little trouble, but the advantage is it can be done when
the handset is even lost but in GSM technology, when a handset is lost, SIM card is also
lost with it.

When it comes for international roaming handsets with GSM is far better than CDMA
handsets because GSM is used in most the markets across the globe. Users using tri-
band or quad-band can travel to Europe, India and most of Asia and still can use their
cell phone. CDMA does not have this multiband capability, thus cannot be used multiple
countries with ease.

Differences between CDMA and TDMA:

CDMA technology claims that its bandwidth is thirteen times efficient than TDMA and
forty times efficient than analog systems. CDMA also have better security and higher
data and voice transmission quality because of the spread spectrum technology it uses,
which has increased resistance to multipath distortion.
The battery life is higher in TDMA compared to CDMA because CDMA handsets transmit
data all the time and TDMA does not require constant transmission. CDMA has greater
coverage area when compared to TDMA. Though, when it comes to international
roaming TDMA is better than CDMA. CDMA is patented by Qualcomm, so an extra fee is
paid to Qualcomm. When it comes to United States and Canada market size for CDMA
is larger than GSM’s market size but worldwide the market size for GSM is far bigger
both in the
Number of subscribers and coverage ,than CDMA.

Conclusion:
From the comparisons made above we cannot say that TDMA is better than CDMA or
vice versa. The main advantage of the CDMA is that, in the single detection method it is
more flexible than TDMA or joint detection. CDMA is said to have higher capacity than
TDMA. But in the future GSM can be extended by an optional CDMA component in order
to further increase the capacity. Finally, it does not matter whether
Which one is better CDMA or TDMA right now? It can be only found out with the
evolution of these technologies. When going for a cell phone the user should choose
the technology according to where they use it. For users who travel abroad it is better
to go with GSM handsets. For the users in United States CDMA is better than TDMA
because of the coverage we can get at rural areas where digital signals cannot be
transmitted.