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AT&T To Acquire T-Mobile USA

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No upside to GSM now...

kingstu

Mar 20, 2011, 3:25 PM
The benefit of GSM was the ability to switch carriers with the switch of a SIM. Unless AT&T is forced to make changes, I really don't like this.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 3:51 PM
The actual benefits of GSM are improved security, near universal, worldwide coverage, and the ability to 'multi-task' by using voice and data concurrently. The main benefit of the SIM card is the ability to easily transfer billing information from one phone to another.
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 4:00 PM
Win.
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 4:04 PM
Not to mention the global capabilities.
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crammy1

Mar 20, 2011, 6:56 PM
he did mention "worldwide coverage"...but i disagree about security... gsm is actually not so secure as people may think ..
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 6:58 PM
Ah. Read right on past that. Silly me.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 10:43 PM
Nothing is perfectly secure but in general GSM is more secure than CDMA...and it is lightyears ahead of the old TDMA networks that it replaced, the GSM encryption is pretty strong and it took something like 15 years for someone to finally crack it.
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:48 PM
Really? Is this true? I am seeking opinions from those who know here.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 10:52 PM
I have never heard anyone suggest otherwise

Recall that GSM is much more modern technology...it was developed in the 1980's and first implemented in 1991....CDMA was first developed by the British during World War II and then put on a shelf for decades after the war.

The entire point of the SIM card is to provide security, because the SIM card is what 'cracks' the encryption, it is the decoder ring so to speak and allows the phone to access the network. CDMA has nothing comparable.
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Azeron

Mar 21, 2011, 1:33 AM
Understood...but I would like an expert opinion. Where is AJ? I feel like Fred Flintstone calling on Kazoo. I know that I don't know but you are making two assertions which sound...strange to my ears. GSM newer tech than CDMA AND more secure. Curious...
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CamelTowing

Mar 21, 2011, 7:41 PM
Actually, he's a bit backwards about that. It was and is CDMA that provided the better security. The security is built in network and in phone. The GSM Sim card(very cool btw... I'm a fan of both) was Europe's answer to government regulations requiring added security. It really does provide awesome security benefits. However, like CDMA, it isn't perfect. CDMA can still be cloned and so can GSM. With GSM, most of the security is on the sim chip. So if you can copy the sim info, you have just ruined everything secure about GSM.
CDMA isn't perfect though. It takes some high dollar equipment to clone it but it happens.
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WiWavelength

Mar 21, 2011, 10:05 AM
T Bone said:
Recall that GSM is much more modern technology...it was developed in the 1980's and first implemented in 1991....CDMA was first developed by the British during World War II and then put on a shelf for decades after the war.


No, this is wrong. You are not referring to CDMA. You are referring to spread spectrum communication, specifically frequency hopping spread spectrum, which actress Hedy Lamarr & composer George Antheil invented during WWII.

CDMA utilizes direct sequence spread spectrum, which is more modern than the combination of TDMA & GMSK employed by GSM. Scrambling is inherent to CDMA, as each user's data is XOR'd against a cyclical PN long code that is over 41 days long.

AJ
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Azeron

Mar 21, 2011, 4:03 PM
I knew you would straighten it out.
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Slammer

Mar 21, 2011, 4:13 PM
GSM's code has been broken and hacked with 1,000 dollars worth of equipment. To my knowledge, no one has been able to crack the current variant of CDMA.

John B.
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CamelTowing

Mar 21, 2011, 7:43 PM
Not true man. It happens all the time even on today's cdma networks.
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:46 PM
Then maybe once AT&T and VZW both have LTE and use SIM cards for that tech LTE will fill that void for you?
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