[Law2138]

I have two blackberries, 1 with AT&T and 1 with Sprint.
Why is it that my AT&T blackberry causes all types of interference with radio equipment. When I'm driving, I know when the AT&T BB is transmitting and receiving because it makes this crackling buzzing noise through the stereo.

Sprint does not. Ever. Does it have something to do with the type of network?

[amazinglygraceless]

That Crazy GSM Buzz


The cause of this buzzing has to do with GSM's "time division" nature. The ever-knowledgeable Keith Nowak, spokesperson for Nokia, explains it as follows: "[[With GSM]] the RF transmitter is turned on/off at a fast rate, and that 'pulsing' is often picked up by nearby devices that don't have good RF shielding. In the case of GSM the pulse rate is 217 Hz, which can be easily heard."

Verizon and Sprint CDMA phones don't have this buzzing sound because their transmitter is on most of the time, according to Nowak. As a result, the pulsing effect generally doesn't occur.

"The interference to other devices is worse the further the phone is from the cellular tower," Nowak continued. "This is because the network requires the phone to transmit at a higher level the further away it is from the tower. In addition, the interference to a device will be worse the closer the phone is to the device being interfered with."

[Twin13]

Wow, that has to be the best answer to a post I have ever seen. Nobody has even had to add to it. Your new name is just 'amazing'. Nice work.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jhinty]

Second that!!! Is there any way to overcome the interference? I sure would love to avoid paying for an mp3 player when my trusty Curve seems so capable? I spend up to 12 hours a day in the car and get pretty tired of the radio.

scratch that. amazing's post above had the answer in the link. not the answer i was looking for but an answer none-the-less:

""A new standard is currently available in draft form which provides guidance to the manufacturers of products that can act as unintentional radio receivers so they can build shielding in to their designs."

That bodes well for future phone designs. Unfortunately, there is virtually nothing you can do about it now. Currently, there's no way to avoid the buzz unless you switch to Verizon or Sprint. Of course, this really shouldn't have to be your only option since GSM (not CDMA) is the cellular network standard used in the rest of the world."

[Law2138]

Many Thanks for that insight and link.