about cell phones

[rondog]

After reading the thread about "minimum posts" and the foolishness in that thread, I just thought I'd mention something a lot of people may not realize about cell phones. Cell phones are essentially radio receivers/transmitters. They only work when in range of a cell tower and cell site. Most folks know this.

What most folks DON'T know or realize is that cell sites DON'T have unlimited capacity. The number of calls that the equipment in a cell site can handle at one time is limited, the equipment CAN get full and not be able to process your calls, even if you're right in front of the site.

I worked on a huge project in Dallas/Ft. Worth to upgrade the Metrocell network, and the new equipment we were putting in each site was only a T1 circuit in bandwidth. That's only 24 calls that each site could handle at one time. This was around 1995, and at that time I was stunned that the technology was so piss-poor. My background is in fiber optics and I'm used to HUGE amounts of traffic capacity. My world deals in terabits per second of bandwith. That's trillions of bits per second, a regular phone line is only 64kps, or 64 thousand bits per second. A T1 line for 24 calls worth of bandwidth per cell site ain't shit. It's pathetic, actually.

I'm sure that modern cellular technology has improved to where cell sites can handle far larger amounts of traffic, but my point is that they have a limit as to how many calls they can handle at one time. Since the two parties in that argument were both trying to call each other and not getting through, it's entirely possible that the cell site their calls were trying to go through was maxed out at that time. Think about how many damn cell phones there are out there now, and how much people use them.

I'm not taking any sides in that issue, just wanted to point out that cell phones aren't perfect. I actually hate the damn things, I think they're a curse. But I usually need to use mine when there's no signal available. Give me a land line anytime.

[Graves]

Let it die already brother.

[Byte Stryke]

After reading the thread about "minimum posts" and the foolishness in that thread, I just thought I'd mention something a lot of people may not realize about cell phones. Cell phones are essentially radio receivers/transmitters. They only work when in range of a cell tower and cell site. Most folks know this.

What most folks DON'T know or realize is that cell sites DON'T have unlimited capacity. The number of calls that the equipment in a cell site can handle at one time is limited, the equipment CAN get full and not be able to process your calls, even if you're right in front of the site.

I worked on a huge project in Dallas/Ft. Worth to upgrade the Metrocell network, and the new equipment we were putting in each site was only a T1 circuit in bandwidth. That's only 24 calls that each site could handle at one time. This was around 1995, and at that time I was stunned that the technology was so piss-poor. My background is in fiber optics and I'm used to HUGE amounts of traffic capacity. My world deals in terabits per second of bandwith.

I'm sure that modern cellular technology has improved to where cell sites can handle far larger amounts of traffic, but my point is that they have a limit as to how many calls they can handle at one time. Since the two parties in that argument were both trying to call each other and not getting through, it's entirely possible that the cell site their calls were trying to go through was maxed out at that time. Think about how many damn cell phones there are out there now, and how much people use them.

I'm not taking any sides in that issue, just wanted to point out that cell phones aren't perfect. I actually hate the damn things, I think they're a curse. But I usually need to use mine when there's no signal available. Give me a land line anytime.

I too brought up this point in much simpler terms and it was summarily dismissed as bullshit.

each node only has so many channels... and if the node for your area is under maintenance, you might be extremely restricted in your available channels.
Bars be damned... you are getting to the tower fine, but you cant get IN.

anyways +1 Rondog for the clarification

[rondog]

Let it die already brother.

I'm not trying to argue about the original issue, just trying to point out the flaws of technology to help folks understand why their calls sometimes don't get through.

[StagLefty]

I actually hate the damn things, I think they're a curse. But I usually need to use mine when there's no signal available. Give me a land line anytime.

The only good thing about losing my job was that I no longer had to have a cell.

[sniper7]

I love my phone. Lately it is what keeps me up to date on here!

[coop68]

i would have to agree cell phones at times are a pain! and i too have had instances where i call some one and they had no record of me calling them kind of annoying also hate it when i receive like 15 text messages an hour late or the next day! but that's technology for you

sniper 7 i would agree i love my phone since i can go on here anywhere anytime as long as i have service! got to love smart phones

[theGinsue]

I absolutely HATE cell phones too, but (like using Microsoft products) it's a curse I find essential sometimes.

I have a cell phone, not a portable computer. Yes, I can text with it but it doesn't have a camera or any of that other nonsense - because I haven't yet found a need for any of that. Because of where I work, if I ever want to bring my phone to the building I work in (notice that I didn't say INTO the building I work in), I can not have a camera on the phone. This is fine by me since I have 2 digital cameras already anyway.

[patrick0685]

Im on my phone right now, : )

[TriggerHappy]

Im on my phone right now, : )

We can tell your spelling is horrible! Maybe you can download an app for spellcheck...