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the rest of the world is standardized on GSM and 3G...

http://phone-solutions.pavemyway.com/Cdma-Operators/Cdma-Operators-List.php

why do the US operators cling to obsolete non-standard technologies?

http://www.3gpp2.org/Public_html/specs/index.cfm

Not heavily implemented outside of the Americas != non-standard.

It is different, you've obviously never tried to read a novel on a monitor.

Just try it before you bitch me out.

You see, when you read code/view blogs/web your eyes roam around the screen looking at various different things, your eyes must refocus or something. It must be because they jump around and you momentarily lose concentration.

When you read a novel your eyes do not refocus, they keep staring at the screen and only slowly move across.

I work on a computer writing code all day long. I can work like this for 8 hours before my eyes go "buggy"

However, when I need to read documentation from my technical specs (see http://www.3gpp2.org/Public_html/specs/C.S0005-E_v1.0_cdma200_1x_Layer_3-090925.pdf), my eyes get really tired after 15min. My coworker has printed that entire spec out and when I read that book, my eyes dont get tired.

If you use high-speed "1x" data (e.g. 153 kbps) on the CDMA networks from Verizon, Sprint, others, there is a reasonable chance that you are already using turbo codes (the high-speed data channels also support convolutional codes).

Check here for all the gory detail (WARNING: 2.3 MB PDF).

For CDMA2000 family and GSM, I think all can be deduced from this page.
Apparently everyone (ETSI for GSM, TIA for CDMA2000) trie to get together for having a 3G which would have enabled compatibility between the two. But apparently due to lengthy process, they decided to fork a 3GPP2 focused on cdma2000. But they are using on their slides, some GSM terms (HLR, VLR), so they are somehow compatible at the end.

For the EU :

GSM : A little bit more complex. It started in 'ad-hoc groups' (CEPT create GSM, then Groupe Speciale Mobile), then the operators (which were state monopolies at that time) pressured the commission (see here).

3G : License attribution method was the decision of the state members. UK, DE had awful auction while BE,FR,CH didn't and sold license for 'normal' prices (well high, but not astronomical).

Corrections and Extra Info

What they are actually referring to is "CDMA 2000-1XEV". The "EV" stands for "Enhanced Voice".

VZW is rolling 1xRTT, 1xEVxx stands for EVolutionary

WCDMA: Wideband CDMA. It wil start to appear in Europe and some US networks later this year (IIRC). It will have a maximum data rate of 384Kbps (IIRC). However, it uses almost 5MHz of the spectrum (~2.5 forward link + ~2.5 on the reverse link)

Maximum data rate is NOT 384 kbps, this is just what the Japanese early FOMA adopters are limited to. The 5MHz is NOT split forward/reverse. Bandwidth and chip rate (3.84 Mcps) is same in BOTH directions.

1xEV-DO stands for EVolutionary Data Only

For those with even a slight interest in the actual facts and standards, there are two standards groups looking after the two 3G streams. The 3G Paternership Project is responsible for the GSM migration path aka WCDMA. The 3G Partnership Project 2 covers the Qualcomm migration to cdma2000 (1xRTT, 3x, etc) etc.

The current dominant standard, GSM, is evolving toward WCDMA/UMTS. This is the upgrade path all GSM and most IS-136 networks will take. GSM/GPRS uses the same data infrastructure and protocols as WCDMA/UMTS. Oddly enough, GSM is more different from WCDMA/UMTS than IS-95 (CDMA) is from CDMA2000. CDMA also has some technology advantage over GSM. But it's kind of a Betamax thing: it is better to be widely used than it is to be better technologically.

Both 3G standards use CDMA technology, but they are not compatible. Maybe there will be dual mode radios that will be cheap enough to work on both kinds of networks.

Anybody know what iDen's upgrade path is?

How do I turn off the redundant things in the square brackets?

This is one market where the US tendency to ignore world standards has seriously backfired and the future is also bleak as they have set up their own standard for UMTS (3GPP2) rather than participate in 3GPP

The usage of data services (and hence the revenue) is only 1% even in Japan. So any solution has got to pay for itself on something other than data. Maby in 10 years time we will have 50% of usage being data but for the vast majority that isn't happening yet.