Help Global vs CDMA

[edcooper714]

I live in a remote area where I get a lot of dropped calls.
I have Moto X set to Global which is by default.
Is there any difference between changing to CDMA.
Any experienced out there

 

[Rukbat]

If you have a CDMA carrier you use a CDMA phone. If you have a GSM carrier you use a GSM phone. Changing to the wrong one won't improve your service, it'll eliminate it completely.

 

[doogald]

I live in a remote area where I get a lot of dropped calls.
I have Moto X set to Global which is by default.
Is there any difference between changing to CDMA.
Any experienced out there

It shouldn't. I believe that global just means that the phone will try to roam to a non-US gsm signal if it loses a CDMA signal.

However, try it and see if you notice any difference.

 

[Clementine_3]

I don't get a good 4G signal at my house so use this to lock into 3G. Otherwise it's always searching for a better signal and drains the battery.

One of the first things I do though when I get a new phone is uncheck Global. If I want to try to pick up a 4G signal then I just use the LTE/CDMA setting, not Global.

 

[Deleted User]

If you have a CDMA carrier you use a CDMA phone. If you have a GSM carrier you use a GSM phone. Changing to the wrong one won't improve your service, it'll eliminate it completely.

This isn't really accurate.

What you have with the Moto X (at least, the CDMA versions) is a phone that contains both CDMA and GSM radios. So it's not just one or the other.


To the OP: you can lock it into CDMA only - it shouldn't really affect anything. Setting it to Global means that it will support putting a SIM card in the phone for a GSM network and it will operate on the GSM carrier without changing any settings. Since you are not on a GSM carrier, locking it into CDMA mode will not have any negative effects. It shouldn't have any positive effects, either, especially for dropped calls - but there's no downside.

 

[krs128]

This isn't really accurate.

What you have with the Moto X (at least, the CDMA versions) is a phone that contains both CDMA and GSM radios. So it's not just one or the other.

wait wait wait.. so the CDMA one (Verizon) also is GSM? and supports AT&T and T-Mobile?? why would Motorola even make separate phones then...

 

[trophynuts]

wait wait wait.. so the CDMA one (Verizon) also is GSM? and supports AT&T and T-Mobile?? why would Motorola even make separate phones then...

almost all phones on VZW now are "Global" phones meaning they have CDMA and GSM tech in them (usually the catch is that the GSM portion is locked to not allow other US carriers to work on it) . I have a Blackberry for work that is VZW and its a global phone. Has a SIM card in it for international use. My iPhone 5 however is unlocked on VZW and will work with an AT&T sim card in it on their 3G. So part of the answer to your question is a yes.

 

[Deleted User]

wait wait wait.. so the CDMA one (Verizon) also is GSM? and supports AT&T and T-Mobile?? why would Motorola even make separate phones then...

Yes, it has GSM in it. It does not support the ATT or TMobile LTE frequencies, though, since LTE radios aren't quite to the point where they'll support every single band under the sun.

The Verizon Moto X has a pentaband GSM radio in it, so it supports just about everything except one of the T-Mobile frequencies, and it supports up to HSDPA 42 so you should even get some damn good speed out of it as well. Just no LTE once you leave Verizon's network.

 

[Rxpert83]

Phones with both tech are becoming more and more common. For example, the nexus 5 can work on any US carrier except Verizon, and that's likely more due to a Google / big red fight than a technology limitation.

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah, the Nexus 5 is the first phone I've seen with quite so many LTE bands on it. I'm wondering when or if we'll get to a point where a single integrated chip and antenna design will be able to support the whole spectrum of LTE (even international).

A universal chip/switching antenna plus Voice over LTE would pretty much eliminate the need to juggle phones for different providers. Just pop in a SIM of your choice and go.

 

[doogald]

Yes, it has GSM in it. It does not support the ATT or TMobile LTE frequencies, though, since LTE radios aren't quite to the point where they'll support every single band under the sun.

I believe that the latest radio update unlocked LTE AWS band 4 on 1700/2100, and AT&T and T-Mobile are also offering LTE on that band. That said, you're probably better off buying the X for the particular network that you want to use it on.

And as for LTE radios not supporting every band under the sun: that's still true, though Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c support up to 13 LTE bands for a single SKU, and they have a single SKU for the phones for Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T in the US (the AT&T and T-Mobile phones have the CDMA radios disabled), so hopefully the Android OEMs will jump on that next year as well.