Thursday, April 16, 2009

What determines the kind of cell phone service in an area?

Someone told me that all the cell phone providers share the same towers(?) and that whether you have service or how strong / good the signal is at a particular location depends more on the phone that you have. Can someone explain?


well phone reception will vary by model, usually nokias and motorolas have a reputation for having the best reception, but individual companies need their own liscences to give service in any given area, and sometimes more than one company will put their equipment on the same tower, but when a company uses another companies tower thats usually considered roaming

1. Where ever you move i.e from one country to another your phone will automatically find the network service for you phone. For example, your mobile usually has your country's operator logo at the top, when you fly to another country, you will find your phone operator name has changed to that country's operator logo. The cell connects directly to another network within the location you are. Some countries only have one operator while others may have several.

2. I think having a good signal depends on the range of your phone. Some phone will work in some countries and some might not- depends on their range. You have to discuss these issues with the sales man when you buy the phone or research the technology on the net further. You can also see specifications and features for each mobile phone on their official websites-some of the websites go into detail about how mobiles work etc and how each feature is important.

The signal of your phone can sometimes be affected by various interferences, such as passing under a bridge or moving in a car ( sometimes)-- depends.

FirstBase is right. To add to it. Every provider has different technologies and frequencies, these determine how far they can provide good signal strength. So some providers may be on the same towers but not all of them. Also budgeting and objectives are different with carriers, some may not build out in rural areas, some have deals with other carriers to roam onto another carriers network. This is why some carriers may be better than others in certain locations. The phone, as was mentioned, each has different performance.

Hi there.....

Your cell phone reception is determined on quite a few variables. First, how close you are to the nearest cell site is primary. Most of the larger cell companies don't actually own their own sites, but lease tower space from third-party companies (in that way, one tower can actually provide service for as many as 4-5 different companies). This is particularly true in larger cities where zoning regulations and space to put up new towers are most restrictive. But that's not the only consideration. Some phones are more sensitive to signal than others (in my experiences Nokia and Motorola are better with signal, but other companies do well also). Another important consideration is geography. It's harder to get signals in mountainous areas than flat land. Signals bounce wildly off of water masses, so reception is very unpredictable in the middle of a lake. Finally, buildings can also reflect signal in strange ways, so being in a large metro downtown with lots of glass buildings can be problematic depending on where the company's closest cell site is and what it has to go through to get to your phone.

Hope this helps!

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