Techs & Trends

Greetings. Ok. First off let me get some out in the open. A TRI-MODE PHONE IS A DIGITAL PHONE. There are 2 different frequencies that a Digital phone will run at 800Mhz and 1900Mhz in TDMA and 800Mhz and 1900Mhz in CDMA. The diff between TDMA and CDMA is the way the signal is processed. One uses time pulses to handle many conversations at once and CDMA applies a pseudorandom code to each simultatneous conversation (to explain it in very very brief). So anyway - then other than for the two types of Digital, TDMA and CDMA, there is the grand puba of cellular, Analog.
A tri-mode phone uses both the cellular frquencies AND the Analog portion as its full spectrum. On both TDMA and CDMA. So a TDMA Tri-mode will work on 800Mhz,1900Mhz and Analog and a CDMA Tri-mode will work on 800Mhz or 1900Mhz and Analog.
Does the Tri-modes get better reception than the dual modes or strictly digital ? Sometimes. If you get into an area where the only signal available is Analog or an area where there is a 1900Mhz signal stronger than an 800Mhz, well then yes. Your phone will utilize that extra capability to pull in that extra signal. Now this also has a HUGE amount to do with how optimized your network is and blah blah blah...
But essentially, a tri-mode phone CAN make use of a bigger frequency range than a regular "DIGITAL" (only two frequencies - either both digital or one digital and one analog).
Hope this helps.

Thanks

Rukshan W
Network Engineer
Northern PCS