OnStar Users Cut Off By Analog Shutdown > They "can legally" turn off analog (TDMA) in '08

They "can legally" turn off analog (TDMA) in '08

I think this time next year most analog/TDMA systems will be turned off. The bigger carriers need the resources to keep up with demand and build out the next generation of service. Small networks still using Analog/TDMA systems will find their customers running to the competition when they can no longer get service outside their home network.

reply to ditka_b
AT&T has already announced that they will shutdown AMPS/TDMA as of next February.

»www.wireless.att.com/learn/artic···tion.jsp

You are probably right about the smaller carriers keeping it active but the big boys are already making moves to take it off their networks.

reply to ditka_b
Doubt it. The carriers have to pay the same amount for a given 25Mhz of spectrum, if it is used for digital or analog. Digital can carry much more voice traffic, and is generally accepted as clearer (although more compressed). Cell companies were forced to keep 'some' analog equipment working for legacy customers. Now they can reclaim that space and put, lets say 32 conversations on the space that a single customer took up with analog.

reply to ditka_b
Uh, TDMA is digital(D-AMPS), but has been pretty much phased out in favor of GSM and more advanced technologies.

AT&T pretty much abandoned TDMA already, they started tossing it out the window in the the early days of Cingular.

The Analog shutdown in February refers to AMPS, the original Analog Cellular format.

The rule simply allows the carriers to turn off Analog if they wish, but it is not a forced transition like Analog TV to Digital TV

They could keep using TDMA if they wanted to, because it is 2-3 times more spectrally efficient than AMPS, but both the original IS-56(D-AMPS), and Improved IS-136(D-AMPS),CODECS produce a terrible fidelity, almost 'Robotic' sounding audio reproduction.

So far the evolution of the original Analog AMPS in the US and Canada, has moved to 2 variants of D-AMPS(aka TDMA), then to GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS(W-CDMA) and HSDPA.

Starting with European countries and phasing in through out much of the world, they went from Analog to GSM, skipping over the D-AMPS stage.

On the other end in the US and Canada, you saw AMPS, evolve to IS-95 (CDMA ONE), then your evolved CDMA2000, 1xRTT, 3xRTT, EVDO Rev.(A, B, C).
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