On Sat, 5 Aug 2006, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Steve Sobol:
Dobson Cellular One is also the GSM carrier in Alaska, and is phasing out their TDMA and analog. Until recently, Dobson was the only choice if you wanted digital service outside of the major cities.
However, ACS Wnireless is now aggressively building out their CDMA network; I found CDMA service in the Copper River Valley (Glennallen, etc.) this year when previously there was none. ACS also has some TDMA.
Although ACS is actively touting the advantages of CDMA ("every GSM carrier in the world today is upgrading their network to CDMA", "CDMA has a noticably better voice quality than GSM and TDMA", "CDMA has fewer dropped calls"), neither carrier seems to be unconditionally "better" in performance. With both carriers, either "it works" or "it doesn't work"; there seemed to be no in-between state. There are many places where there was no CDMA service but full bar GSM service, or vice versa.
ACS Wireless roams with Verizon in the USA but not with Telus Mobility; in fact, ACS seems to be on the Telus PRL forbidden list since Telus phones go into analog mode in ACS land.
-- Mark --