Cell phones have become as common as pocket radios. There is nowhere to go without finding someone with their palm to their ear receiving or making a call.
Mobile services differ greatly from traditional telephone service in many ways. Here we try to look at how cell phones work and how calls are made and received.
The first thing you’ll need to understand about mobile technology is that cell phones are essentially radios. All communication, to and from the device, travels over radio lines and is subject to the radio transmission rules we see in older Motorola two-way radio systems. The only difference is that cell phones can apply computing concepts like advanced networking and sophisticated programming into their features and that is how we come to SMS text messaging, conferencing, call waiting features and calendar systems.
The second concept is that of cells. There is no single network block, rather a city can be divided into several cells and a call from one cellular device to another keeps waiting through the cells until it reaches the destination number. The advantage of the cellular system is that it allows for frequency reuse, which means multiple users can use the same small cell and allows the business to use the same frequency over and over again without locking up resources on a single phone call. Usually a cell covers about 26 square kilometers and each one has a base station that is just a tower and some radio equipment to manage the signals.
Lately, cell phone technologies are laden with computer applications. SMS and WAP access are, for example, typical computer applications that have found their way into cellular functionality. SMS works like traditional email system and is controlled by a server just like we have a network server. WAP is more focused on computer programming and is also controlled by a WAP server. When you send a text message, it travels through the cellular network and is stored on a server and delivered to the recipient. The reason why it is purely a computer network facility and independent of cellular service is that even while receiving calls, SMS messages may arrive.
WAP is purely an Internet powered service integrated into cellular networks to enhance the experience normally reserved for Internet surfers. Examples of these facilities are downloads and information services, such as flight schedules and weather updates, obtained from cellular operators via mobile phones.
As mobile users grow in sophistication, so does the technology that powers the device. Each new day will see what we call convergence technology whereby other fields of communication will gradually merge into mobile operations to provide customers with an enhanced experience.
