Found some great definitions of the cell phone calling protocols at about.com (Summary below). I've settled on Tmobile as a carrier due to coverage and range of services. As for a Tmobile-ready phone that will fit the bill for my Symbian development, I've switched from a Nokia 7650 to a Sony Ericsson P800. I have no idea what to do with deployment (I'm not going to buy P800s for all my friends to try out my product) but it seems the best bet to get my feet wet with features and that half of the industry.

Here are the cell phone terms:

What is GSM? 

Definition: Considered the most advanced digital cellular technology, extremely popular in Europe and Asia. GSM networks are leaders in many typically "digital" services including the Short Message Service (SMS), Over the air (OTA) configuration and GSM positionning. Considered its technology and presence both in Americas and the rest of the world, GSM is in a good position for global roaming and many new GSM phones are called "global phones", since they can be used in virtually any country. The SIM card ("Subscriber Identification Module") is also a unique and essential component of GSM phones.

Technically, GSM was built based on the TDMA protocol.

Also Known As: GSM stands for "Global System for Mobile Communications"

 What is TDMA? 

Definition: One of the oldest digital cellular technology, mostly seen in North America. It is considered the less advanced digital technology, partly because of its lack of flexibility compared to other digital cellular technologies.

TDMA divides communications into packets of data based on timed transmission.

Also Known As: TDMA stands for "Time Division Multiple Access"

Common Misspellings: Don't misplace it with CDMA, which is another digital cellular technology.

What is CDMA?   

Definition: The most common and most recent digital cellular technology in North America.

What differentiate CDMA from other phone technologies is that in order to carry many conversations over one frequency, it sends all communications in groups of bits mixed altogether, but tags each group, belonging to a specific communication, with a different code (CDMA stands for "Code Division... Multiple Access"). Therefore, at the other end, each communication can be reassembled in the correct order, based on the unique codes attached to certain groups of bits.

Also Known As: CDMA stands for "Code Division Multiple Access"

What is iDEN? 

Definition: A digital phone technology developped by Motorola for workgroups. iDEN phones can be used as two-way radios, but with no need for both parties to be within a certain range: two-way radio communications use the cellular telephony network. Most of these phones usually feature a built-in speakerphone.

Also Known As: iDEN stands for "High Speed Circuit Switched Data"

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