On 2008-04-08, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> When I was in Taiwan last month, I also found that I could actually get
> service on CDMA much more readily than GSM, because the GSM
> infrastructure cannot handle the volumes of calls in a country as
> densely populated as Taiwan (2nd most densely populated country in the
> world, but really the most densely populated when you eliminate the
> uninhabitable mountainous interior.

I think you might be making too big a leap from a particular
experience you had to the general conclusion that "GSM cannot handle
this". I also think the "2nd most densely populated" statistic must have
some conditions attached you aren't mentioning since small countries
like Singapore and Monaco have much, much higher average population
densities than bigger places like Taiwan or whichever country is
number one in your list (is it Bangladesh?). More than this, in
terms of urban population density Taiwan's low-rise cities aren't
in the same league as some of its high-rise near neighbours.
Macau's average population density, at 20,000 people per square
kilometer over the whole territory, exceeds the densest part of
Taipei, while the most densely populated neighbourhood on the planet
is Mong Kok, in Hong Kong, at almost 60,000 residents per square
kilometer plus lots more who come for the shopping.

In addition to the highest density urban neighbourhoods anywhere,
Hong Kong in particular also has (nearly?) the highest mobile
phone penetration rate, at 10 million active accounts with
a population of 7 million people, and, with 5 or 6 competitive
carriers, some of the lowest per-minute mobile rates anywhere
(last time I was there the low-ball come-on price for a contract
plan was under $6/month for 800 minutes and $9/month for 2000
minutes). Everyone there has a mobile phone and no one is shy
about using it. Yet despite the extreme population densities and
the high rate of mobile phone use I have never been anywhere
in the urban parts of Hong Kong where the cell phone coverage
wasn't just excellent, both outside and inside. I've never
seen capacity problems, seldom have had a call drop that I
remember even in tunnels on the subway or the bus, never had
a call go directly to voicemail without ringing my phone,
nothing. I've also attended very large conventions in Hong Kong,
at both convention centers, and never had a problem with the phone.
And they are pretty much all GSM phones in Hong Kong; there's
a CDMA network but I don't think the company which owns it
even sells phones for it any more.

Now if I recall correctly you are basing your opinion on your
experience at a convention in a facility so new that your's
was only the second event held there. Rather than assuming
that GSM can't handle the call volume I think a more reasonable
explanation might be that the phone company just hadn't yet
got around to installing the capacity necessary to service the
crowds that particular brand new venue is now attracting. If
GSM had issues with density that would bother Taiwan urban
areas there are other places which would have experienced those
limitations a long time ago, and they haven't.

Dennis Ferguson