Oooops! My bad!
Thanks for that, jsh1120. Thanks for the correction.
Marilyn
No problem, Marilyn. Your perspective is widespread. It's probably more accurate to say that folks who expect to use their devices in Europe and NA are far better off sticking with GSM since the EU mandated GSM for all member countries. Given that most people's travel is to/from North America and Europe it's not surprising that the impression that the rest of the world uses GSM would catch on.
The main reason that the EU mandated GSM was to assure real competition among carriers, something we sorely lack in the US. While Europeans can easily move from one carrier to another US consumers are generally stuck with multi-year contracts that lock them into a single carrier. The "benefit" of that approach is that American consumers get subsidized cell phones. But the huge disadvantage is that we pay through the nose for cellular service.
In the long run Europeans may pay more for their unsubsidized devices but they save tremendously on monthly carrier services as a result of competition. Over a two year period they're much better off than Americans.
Those who advocate "free market" solutions should take a close look at situations like this. The US government's failure to regulate the market (as the EU has done) has meant that very little real competition exists for 3G and 4G service in the US.