Update, 2008: Six years later, GSM is the protocol of choice, CDMA is on its way out, with current CDMA providers planning to switch to LTE. You may now disregard this post and the story it links to.

Den Beste on CDMA and GSM in the cellphone industry. Very detailed, very informative. I must admit that I too have been guilty of purveying the meme that “GSM is superior and US cellphones are so behind,” but I hadn’t even been aware that CDMA was a relatively new technology with so much promise.

Back in Manila, My mom had a Mobiline CDMA phone, but it was severely limited, as compared to my Globe GSM phone’s text-messaging capabilities. But then, I suppose other factors were (1) Nokia’s domination of the cellphone market, and (2) the cellular provider’s own service aptitude. Mobiline (which later became Piltel/Smart Telecom) was a PLDT subsidiary. Figures.