Ever wonder how your cellphone manages to search for towers and connect with them whenever you make a call or access data? The technology behind maintaining cellular connectivity is pretty fascinating. Here’s a simplified breakdown of how cell towers link up with your phone.
Triangulating Tower Signals
Cell towers have directional antennas that divide a geographic area into sectors. Towers transmit and receive signals in each sector. As you move through an area with your phone, it is constantly on a search for towers, identifying the strongest signal coming from nearby towers. It triangulates between multiple towers to maintain the best connection. Your phone seamlessly hands off between towers and sectors as you change location.
Registering With Nearby Towers
When you turn on your cellphone, it sends out a signal to register with towers close by. Your phone provides key identifying information like its Mobile Identification Number and electronic serial number. Nearby towers note your phone’s presence in their location register database. This allows the towers to efficiently route calls and messages to your phone when needed.
Two-Way Radio Communication
Cellphones and towers communicate through two-way radio transmissions. When you make a call, your phone converts your voice into an audio signal. This digital signal gets transmitted to the nearest tower via radio waves. The tower relays the call through a central switching system to its destination. Return signals get transmitted back the same way, so you can carry on a seamless conversation. This all happens at lightning speeds.
Advanced Digital Networks
Early cell networks relied solely on analog signals for communication. But today’s 4G and 5G networks use digital packet switching. Voice and data get broken into tiny packets with destination codes. Packets take the most efficient route through the network. Packets from a single transmission may take different paths before reassembling at the destination. This makes modern networks faster and more reliable. According to Verizon, in the second quarter of 2021, they saved $10 billion simply by increasing 5G over 4G service.
Next time you’re streaming music or searching for towers with a weak signal, think about the intricate technology supporting your connectivity. Cell towers make staying in touch on the go possible in today’s digital world. If you’re looking to search for towers or want to learn more about cellphone tower connectivity, reach out to TowerCo for guidance.
