Author: Corey

Due to the extended conversation in the shoutbox, I though I'd give you guys some basic info on wireless phones and the technology they use. For the purposes of this discussion, I will cover national carriers only. If someone wants information on a regional or international carrier, I'll provide you with whatever I have.

We'll start with a technology near and dear to my heart. It's called CDMA which is an acronym for Code Division Multiple Access. It is a method of stacking calls on a cell tower wherein each call is assigned a specific and unique code. In so doing, the tower can handle somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 calls per megahertz. It was developed exclusively by Qualcomm in a lovely building that is next door to my office.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS, ranked second and third respectively in terms of market share, are the two national carriers that employ CDMA currently. Most of their networks are CDMAOne, or 2G services with slower QNC data speeds. Verizon has rolled out a 2.5G network with EV-DO (Evolution, Data Only), sometimes referred to as 1X, that boasts theoretical data speeds of 300 to 500kbps.

In terms of coverage, Verizon's network is currently the largest in the United States. Their plans, however, are somewhat more expensive than other carriers. This is due to the money they spend on their network making it one of the best in the nation. Sprint, on the other hand, ain't too shabby either. Their network is good, but not as good as Verizon. In many areas where Verizon has a strong foothold, such as the northeast and here in Southern California, Sprint's network is a tad shoddy because they have no incentive to upgrade.

And now, we move to a second post for GSM.

GSM, you ignorant slut. Not really, but I don't care for it much. GSM is an acronym for Global System for Mobile Communication. GSM works off of the older TDMA systems in using timestamps to stack calls on the tower. GSM can stack seven to ten calls per megahertz versus upwards of 30 for CDMA.

GSM is used almost exclusively in Europe making it more of the, "world standard" than CDMA. Many carriers sell, "World Phones" that are tri-band and capable of using the networks here in the States and in Europe. Data speeds on GSM are significantly slower than CDMA, and while new technologies are being developed to bring up the transfer rates, it will never really catch up with CDMA, much less overtake it.

For coverage we look to the number one wireless phone carrier in the United States, Cingular. Cingular recently acquired AT&T, and as their new marketing campaign is screaming, they now have the largest network. What they aren't telling you is that most of AT&T's network is TDMA and does not support GSM. AT&T was starting upgrades but never finished. Their coverage is very, very good. For coverage, their only competition is Verizon. However, CDMA penetrates (lol) buildings much better than GSM.

T-mobile is also a player. Instead of having a zomg huge network, they offer fantastic values in phones and service plans. T-mobile is great if you're in a metropolitan area and never leave.

Just incase anyone is wondering, all of the carriers have coverage maps on their respective websites. Additionally, tons more information about both CDMA and GSM are available from our friends and Google. Feel free to post questions in the shoutbox or in comments and I'll do what I can to answer them. And now I'm going to bed. Mmm. Bed.

Microsoft has always offered copies of security patches and the like on CD for a nominal fee of $6 or so plus shipping. In what I can only perceive as a move to save face after all the problems that were identified pre-SP2, Microsoft is giving SP2 CD's away for free. If you didn't download the Network install or are on a slow connection, this is a great way to get the updates free from Microsoft. Click here to fill out the form. It takes four to six weeks to get the CD, reportedly.

Grendel sez: Yeah, I ordered my CD a while back, and got it in a little shorter than 6 weeks I believe. However, now that so many people have heard of the free CD offer, I'm sure it'll take quite a while.

Defiler has released the latest version of his DefilerPak over at his site, http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/. You can access a direct download of the latest pak by clicking here and you can read the documentation on the project by clicking here.

For those of you unfamiliar with DefilerPak, it is a no-frills-attached package of the most commonly used audio and video codec’s needed to watch or listen just about any media encoded in any current standard. The Pak is updated every time there is a significant release of a codec. I've used DefilerPak since version 1.09 and have never had a problem with a codec. Check it out, the power of waffles compels you!

Shows how much you know. You're probably one of those people who thinks that broccoli has a place in the world, ham radio has something to do with bacon, and that Al "Get The Fudge Out" Sharpton is just a nice guy trying to make a point.

Google, boys and girls. That glorious all-encompassing bastion of webbish goodness. Most people, except for maybe Tr0z (and only then because he has that silly integer in his name), know that Google is the source to search for something on the Internet. There is no other because there needs to be no other. But, dear reader, do you know about the dark side?

And by dark I mean development, of course. There are a host of services that have been rolled out including Froogle, Google Image Search, Google Newsgroup Search, Google News, and AdSense. All of these are great tools for just about any purpose in which you need information.

Newly announced, however, is the ZOMG HUGE Gmail service, boasting one gigabyte of storage space with an encouragement to archive e-mail, instead of deleting it. I sense some Google-ploy™ in how they're handing out user accounts. They're free, but you have to be "invited." If it were me, and I wish that it were, it would be an excellent way for me to count my affect on users. Moreover, since my free accounts were selling for $80 or more a few weeks ago (which are now down to $5 or so, incidentally), I'd know that I've got a good thing going.

And finally, ladies and germs, GoogleGroups. This is not to be confused with the aforementioned groups.google.com, but is an entirely different service. GoogleGroups offers listserves and group management ala Yahoogroups but sans suck. The service is still in extremely early beta, and is not really usable at this point. But it's coming, and that's what counts.

This public service announcement has been brought to you by my need to ramble, and the letters J, R, and P. This post has been made possible by the financial support of viewers like no one that visits here.

KD5ING sez : Don't forget the Google Calculator. Just type your problem into the window and press Enter. Whammo - there is your answer. Better yet is the conversion utility - Want to convert kg to pounds, inches to picometers, or watts to horsepower (great for building electric vehicles) then type it in! How cool is that?