We take it on faith that it will, and swear like heathens when it doesn't. This column usually sets out to explain a certain technology-related acronym or obscure technical term. Mobile phone companies have created a whole slew of them, but for the most part buyers don't pay attention to them. TDMA systems never transmit more than a single conversation in any instant, but continuously cycle through all the ambient conversations in the area so that, ideally, no one misses a word. CDMA systems, by contrast, attach a distinct code to each call and place them all into the air at once.
Callers only hear the conversation that contains their code.
The two systems have real differences, but primarily affect how efficiently the phone company can run their systems and how much money they can make. You can still get an analog signal nearly anywhere in the U.S., but digital service can be more spotty. Digital systems like CDMA and TDMA offered phone companies opportunites to operate more efficiently, though, so everyone made the switch. Digital service also allows carriers to offer services like caller ID, text messaging, and Internet access, which they are now starting to do. And no one has yet answered the question of who, exactly, will want to ruin their vision reading information off a mobile phone's tiny screen.