CDMA vs. GSM... What's up?

[cruiseroutfit]

I'm on Verizon now (and don't plan to change) with a Samsung Galaxy III phone. All well here in the US but I'll be traveling soon in MX/CenAm and want to have more reliable phone/data and well, Verizon (CDMA) sucks down there. AT&T seems to be the clear leader for Cen/South America and they have a decent deal on International phone/data plans.

I talked to a AT&T rep and they looked up data on my current Verizon phone and told me it would in fact work on their network (GSM) network. Before I go down that path I figured I'd ask some of you gents for opinions as I know some of you are very savvy on this stuff. Any opinions?

Should I even consider T-Mobile (also on GSM)

Ideally I can use my current phone as it has my contacts, my apps and I'm not in a mood to learn something new

Additionally, I plan to add an iPad to the plan for data, email, forums, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[Stephen]

Your phone is busted, just get a new one.

Most phones now are "world phones" so they are capable of working on both GSM and CDMA. The difference is minimal anymore. Its just a matter of which technology the companies decided to invest in. GSM is the way of the future (greater bandwidth capabilities) but Verizon went all in on CDMA here in the US, so they'll stick with that for awhile.

Bottom line, you should be fine with your current phone down there.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

It is busted and has been since the last time I was there, still 100% functional and the perfect phone to be traveling in that neck of the woods with

 

[sLcREX]

Mexico either has or is in the process of decommissioning their CDMA network so it's going to be strictly GSM, so any CDMA you had before will now be gone. So definitely wanna have a Global phone like he mentioned, I can't remember if the S3 is global or not but you're fine having a VZW phone as long as it supports GSM networks, just make sure to turn on your data roaming on the phone before you head out so you can pick up global data.

The bottom line is you're gonna rely on the carriers in MX to have service, our carriers like Verizon, ATT, T-Mo, Sprint are simply using their towers to get signal to your phone. The deciding factor for you is gonna be which carrier has the better global rates that you need.

 

[sLcREX]

By the way GSM and CDMA are both old news. New technology is LTE, Verizon and ATT both have setup LTE I think, I know VZW has not certain about ATT, Sprint went with Wi-MAX and realized they were dumbasses and are now in the process of switching to LTE.

 

[nnnnnate]

Your flagship phones will be the worldwide supported phones. I'd look into buying a sim card in the country that you are going to be traveling in rather than continuing to use your US sim and paying the super high rates Verizon/ATT would charge to use another carriers towers down there. I bet you could find a pre-pay SIM plan with data for $50. (I'm not sure how roaming would affect this though.) If you are concerned about using the same phone # there are a few options that you have for that but I won't get into that here. Its pretty easy to do though and makes jumping carriers with different SIM cards painless as you still use the same phone number to send and receive messages and calls.

I would also guess that roaming on a Mexican SIM into other Central/South American countries would be cheaper than doing so from the US. You seem to be in Mexico often so picking up a SIM for the "best" carrier would be something you use frequently.

 

[locknloadfzj80]

Don't do the T-Mobile. If you sneeze it will lose service.

You can back up all of your contacts and most your other stuff with Google/Samsung accounts synced.

VzW 4G devices are carrier unlocked so there are no hoops to jump through when throwing another carrier sim in. Long distance is almost always cheaper then roaming so easily swapping carrier Sims is a really nice feature. I can't really speak to AT&T on that though.

Why not get an S5 or a Note 4? Both would have a shorter learning curve since they all run Samsungs Touchwiz UI. The Note is large, yes. After using it for half a second it makes other phones feel ridiculously small though. Plus using it for GPS and mapping is great. The s-pen functionality is really handy for making strip maps or signing documents without needed to print them first, all from your phone.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...The bottom line is you're gonna rely on the carriers in MX to have service, our carriers like Verizon, ATT, T-Mo, Sprint are simply using their towers to get signal to your phone. The deciding factor for you is gonna be which carrier has the better global rates that you need.

Your flagship phones will be the worldwide supported phones. I'd look into buying a sim card in the country that you are going to be traveling in rather than continuing to use your US sim and paying the super high rates Verizon/ATT would charge to use another carriers towers down there.

AT&T's international plan down there is very practical, Verizon on the other hand lacks reciprocity in most of the countries we'll visit and is $25/MB which get's expensive super fast when using the phone for GPS or other data needs. Beyond that assuming my phone was using GSM the last time I was down there (last fall) I had horrible coverage compared to those with AT&T. So my mind is pretty much made up to have something other than Verizon and AT&T seems to have the best data rates.

I bet you could find a pre-pay SIM plan with data for $50. (I'm not sure how roaming would affect this though.) If you are concerned about using the same phone # there are a few options that you have for that but I won't get into that here. Its pretty easy to do though and makes jumping carriers with different SIM cards painless as you still use the same phone number to send and receive messages and calls.

We looked into the SIM card option while in SoAm and it was still somewhat limited to the country you buy it in as their roam rates were no better than say AT&T's. The plus is you don't get locked into a long-term contract but AT&T has an international plan that is month-month so long as my phone works.

...Why not get an S5 or a Note 4? Both would have a shorter learning curve since they all run Samsungs Touchwiz UI. The Note is large, yes. After using it for half a second it makes other phones feel ridiculously small though. Plus using it for GPS and mapping is great. The s-pen functionality is really handy for making strip maps or signing documents without needed to print them first, all from your phone.

I am due for a new phone but I don't want to deal with that pre-trip and if this phone gets lifted during our trip, I'll sleep fine... I'd be bummed if a brand-new phone gets ripped or broken.




Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm going to make a trip to an AT&T store to verify compatibility of my phone and rate options.

 

[Unimog]

Just some personal experience: I've travelled to Mexico many times and other places like China using at&t international plans. They aren't cheap, but they do work just like they should. Coverage was pretty good everywhere I went.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Thanks Eric!