5 ms·

The more i learn about US telecom, the more i wonder how the hell they managed to invent both the landline and mobile phone. Their infrastructure sounds like a

The more i learn about US telecom, the more i wonder how the hell they managed to invent both the landline and mobile phone. Their infrastructure sounds like a balkanized mess...

wil421 9y ago
Not really a fair assessment. The 4 larger mobile providers are spilt between GSM and CDMA in the past CDMA phones wouldn’t work abroad, except maybe China. You would even have to buy a CDMA version of the iPhone. The big 4 just buy up all competitors and usually one tries to buy one of the others. Geographically the US is much more expansive than the EU and more robust. I would not compare infrastructure I would compare the regulations. The telcos created the tech and most likely the laws.
- arcticbull 9y ago
  CDMA is winding up in the US also as all providers move off to LTE leaving their legacy infrastructure to die off at scheduled EoL.
- spiralpolitik 9y ago
  Regulation was the key difference. The EU mandated a common wireless standard (GSM) to be in use across all countries. The US let the market decide and ended up building 4-5 largely incompatible semi-nationwide networks. Thankfully time, technology, and consolidation has now reduced that down to 2 (CDMA/LTE - Verizon, Sprint, GSM/LTE, AT&T, T-Mobile). LTE will eventually consolidate that down to 1.
gsich 9y ago
First telephone was invented by an Italian (Antonio Meucci). Probably the best landline system was/is in Germany. The ISDN was a complete digital system beginning from the 80s, having features that are not present in current mobile technologies. Calling was almost instant, probably only matched with VoLTE or SIP in local networks. Deutsche Telekom tried very hard to adapt most of the ISDN features to SIP.
- exikyut 9y ago
  What do you mean by "calling was almost instant"?
  - gsich 9y ago
    You dial a number. The other party will start ringing.
    - mhd 9y ago
      And not just calling. There was no need for a lengthy handshake after the connection was setup for ISDN modems.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  > First telephone was invented by an Italian (Antonio Meucci). Living in New York and granted a US patent...
  - tomcooks 9y ago
    > In 1834 Meucci constructed a type of acoustic telephone to communicate between the stage and control room at the Teatro of Pergola https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meucci https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meucci
  - gsich 9y ago
    You wrote "how they managed" and by "they" I assume you meant US-americans. Which is not the case for Meucci.

The more i learn about US telecom, the more i wonder how the hell they managed to invent both the landline and mobile phone. Their infrastructure sounds like a balkanized mess...

wil421 9y ago

Not really a fair assessment. The 4 larger mobile providers are spilt between GSM and CDMA in the past CDMA phones wouldn’t work abroad, except maybe China. You would even have to buy a CDMA version of the iPhone. The big 4 just buy up all competitors and usually one tries to buy one of the others. Geographically the US is much more expansive than the EU and more robust. I would not compare infrastructure I would compare the regulations. The telcos created the tech and most likely the laws.

arcticbull 9y ago
CDMA is winding up in the US also as all providers move off to LTE leaving their legacy infrastructure to die off at scheduled EoL.
spiralpolitik 9y ago
Regulation was the key difference. The EU mandated a common wireless standard (GSM) to be in use across all countries. The US let the market decide and ended up building 4-5 largely incompatible semi-nationwide networks. Thankfully time, technology, and consolidation has now reduced that down to 2 (CDMA/LTE - Verizon, Sprint, GSM/LTE, AT&T, T-Mobile). LTE will eventually consolidate that down to 1.

gsich 9y ago

First telephone was invented by an Italian (Antonio Meucci). Probably the best landline system was/is in Germany. The ISDN was a complete digital system beginning from the 80s, having features that are not present in current mobile technologies. Calling was almost instant, probably only matched with VoLTE or SIP in local networks. Deutsche Telekom tried very hard to adapt most of the ISDN features to SIP.

exikyut 9y ago
What do you mean by "calling was almost instant"?
- gsich 9y ago
  You dial a number. The other party will start ringing.
  - mhd 9y ago
    And not just calling. There was no need for a lengthy handshake after the connection was setup for ISDN modems.
digi_owl 9y ago
> First telephone was invented by an Italian (Antonio Meucci). Living in New York and granted a US patent...
- tomcooks 9y ago
  > In 1834 Meucci constructed a type of acoustic telephone to communicate between the stage and control room at the Teatro of Pergola https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meucci https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meucci
- gsich 9y ago
  You wrote "how they managed" and by "they" I assume you meant US-americans. Which is not the case for Meucci.