In message <47b8c70d$0$491$815e3792@news.qwest.net> David W Studeman
<eat_your_own_spam@hormel.com> wrote:

>DevilsPGD wrote:
>
>> In message <reply_in_group-4828FA.21575616022008@news.supernews.com> Tim
>> Smith <reply_in_group@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
>>
>>>In article <rp9fr3he8ciduik9kgpssp1vocddnsue5h@4ax.com>,
>>> DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>>>> GSM means the iPhone is ready to go world-wide, rather then only in a
>>>> couple markets.
>>>
>>>But that "couple markets" includes the USA and Japan. That's a pretty
>>>good couple of markets!
>>
>> Japan is W-CDMA, which is not compatible with the CDMA protocol used in
>> US and Canada. In other words, from a development point of view, the
>> choice would be CDMA for US and Canada, CDMA for Japan, or GSM for most
>> of the cellular coverage across the planet, including US and Canada.
>
>W-CDMA is UMTS/HSDPA which mainly applies to data anyway.

While true, Japan's voice implementation is completely incompatible with
what is used in Canada and the US. You cannot take a phone from a CDMA
carrier in Canada or the US and roam in Japan, even if you are coming
from a carrier with roaming agreements.

However, some CDMA carriers do allow you to rent Japan-compatible CDMA
phones. These only work in Japan, and do not function on the CDMA
networks deployed in Canada or the US.

The "couple markets" I mentioned above is Canada and the US, and that's
pretty much it.