Any chance of Verizon switching to GSM?

I've searched online for info on this, but found mixed answers. Is there any chance that Verizon would leave CDMA and switch to GSM? If so, when?

i doubt it. all of the users on their network are using CDMA switching to GSM would require everyone to get a new phone.

If they did plan to switch to GSM, they would have to keep their CDMA network open for at least two years or give everyone on two-year or more contracts a new phone, which they would never do. Having a GSM and CDMA network online at the same time would be a waste of money for them most likely.

They'll have to eventually, I suspect. The cost savings of being able to roam other carriers networks, lease others' tower resources, etc. will demand it for continuous coverage, unless they want to sink more money into a parallel, proprietary technology. Technical merits aside, GSM is what virtually the entire world is going to, and I don't think it wise or possible to try to circumvent that market share -- they can't compete, certainly not internationally, without converting.

In fact, I thought I had already heard of Verizon doing some GSM testing?

[quotea16892895f="EatChex89"]i doubt it. all of the users on their network are using CDMA switching to GSM would require everyone to get a new phone.

If they did plan to switch to GSM, they would have to keep their CDMA network open for at least two years or give everyone on two-year or more contracts a new phone, which they would never do. Having a GSM and CDMA network online at the same time would be a waste of money for them most likely.[/quotea16892895f]
That applies to everybody else who has already switched, and they managed it okay. BellSouth/Cingular/AT&T phased out their analog and TDMA phones & towers. My last 3-4 phones have all been GSM. Yes it will take awhile and they'll have to run parallel for some time, but the sooner they start the sooner they can retire the old network. They will have one advantage, and that is the use of everbody else's GSM towers for areas where they don't have their own. Unlike Cingular/AT&T, which basically sucked for GSM service in the early days due to there being little to no GSM coverage in the US. It took a few years for GSM coverage to get to where it is today, which I expect was one factor in Verizon's delay. Although it will cost them to use somebody else's towers, it's probably a lot less expensive in the short term than having no coverage until they can build their own network. They could then fill the gaps that AT&T has left in GSM coverage and in turn widen AT&T's coverage as well. Everybody benefits!

I wish... GSM has better phones.

Yeah, I also believe they'll have to have some type of period that they use for crossing over to GSM. I just wish that they would do it ASAP. I love Verizon, but I'm with bruman on the GSM phones.

I believe Big Red will be utilizing Long Term Evolution, LTE, instead of GSM according to this article on EngadgetMobile.com

[quote64dd55f465]September 21, 2007
In a move to standardize two of the largest networks in the world, Vodafone and Verizon Wireless have announced that both carriers will move to LTE (Long Term Evolution) for its next-gen networks. Verizon currently uses CDMA technology for voice and mostly EV-DO for data in both Rev. 0 and Rev. A flavors. LTE is the progression path for UMTS carriers like Vodafone -- who coincidentally was looking at WiMAX last month -- to fourth generation networks. LTE will run on an entirely IP based network and has data speeds up to 100Mbps download and 50Mbps upload. What's Verizon's next move, bringing in executives from Vodafone?[/quote64dd55f465]

Coincidentally, China Mobile just started trials of the LTE standard on it's home turf, which if successfully tested and accepted would might just put LTE as a worldwide 4G standard.

[quote64dd55f465]February 13, 2008
For a country with a vibrant history of shunning global standards in favor of homegrown, royalty-free ones, this is a pretty huge reversal of strategy -- and possibly an implicit admission that rolling your own wireless broadband specification is just more trouble than it's worth. Even before China's 3G TD-SCDMA network is deployed on a wide scale, China Mobile has hooked up with Vodafone and child Verizon Wireless to trial LTE on its home turf to help figure out what type of spectrum utilization yields the fastest and most efficient coverage. As China Mobile itself points out, the hookup could ultimately lead to an extraordinarily large -- dare we say, global 4G network that leads to a huge win for customers of the trio. It'll be a few years yet before any of us can reap cold, hard benefits, but it's a start.[/quote64dd55f465]

Yeah, I'm sure at some point everything will run on some form of global WiFi like LTE. It's going to take many, MANY years I think. Like at least a decade to get anything beyond test coverage. In the meantime, I think Verizon is going to suffer from not being on the licurrentli international wireless standard.

I have to agree with you...but then again, VZW takes its' sweet time with everything it does, no?