johnl@think.UUCP (John R. Levine) (02/21/88)
When I first learned about cellular telephony, my impression what that they intended a typical cell to be a mile or two across. But it seems in many cases that cells near the edge of a service area are far bigger. How big can a cell be? [A cell is limited only by transmitter and antenna characteristic.] On a slightly related point, if you pick up your cellular phone near a point where two separate cellular systems meet (e.g., in centeral New Jersey between New York and Philadelphia) how do the two systems decide who gives you your dial tone? For that matter, can calls be handed off from one system to another, or only within one cellular exchange? [You get an arbitrary cellular system, and if you're really lucky you get switched back and forth. In most systems the call can't be transferred across cellphone companies, so you are disconnected from the call and you have to place the call again. --JSol] John Levine, ima!johnl or Levine@Yale.edu
mikel@codas.att.COM (Mikel Manitius) (02/26/88)
Re: size Here in Orlando, the service area spans a good 100 miles from north to south. There are only 5 cells in the Orlando systems. Re: two neighboring systems Another example: Orlando and Melbourne are two seperate systems, however one will hand calls off to the other. Also, calls made from the Melbourne system to local numbers in Orlando, are treated as local calls, while Bell South charges INTRA-LATA for non cellular calls between the same points. -- Mikel Manitius mikel@codas.att.com