SC> Speaking of TDMA, Nextel is up and running in the Boston market. They're 

SC> TDMA, I spoke with one of their reps on their system for a bit and I have 
SC> admit that it sounded pretty good.
TDMA does sound pretty good as long as the towers aren't very busy. As
more and more TDMA phones start competing for tower time, and the Time
Division Multiplexing kicks in, then you'll hear the "burbling" sound
people complain about with TDMA. A salesman I know from our major
competitor confided in me that he only lets customers listen to his TDMA
demo phone during low-use times. He never lets anyone try it during
evening rush hour.
It also gets pretty obvious if you listen to call-in talk radio. In the
mid-afternoon, all the cell phone callers sound the same. During eveing
drive time, the callers with TDMA phones sound like crap.
SC> The only drawback is that they don't have any real phones, they're all 
hi
SC> pocket phones. For mobile operation you can't beat a nice transporatable 

SC> installed unit with a quality antenna in the middle of the roof.
But the digital phones don't have two different power modes. The
Qualcomm digital/analog hybrid (and it's cousin, the Sprint PCS Qualcomm
digital only) work at only 200 mWatts, as opposed to 600 mWatts for
analog portables. That only advantage to that nice bag phone you refer
to is it's 3 watts of power. With digital, that advantage is moot.
 * OLX 2.1 TD * In a bar, you know you can always pick up a beer.
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