Question - How does a mobile work?
Answer -
When you talk into a mobile telephone it converts the sound of your voice to radiofrequency energy (radio waves). The radio waves aretransmitted through the air to a nearby base station. The base station then sends the call through the telephone network until it reaches theperson you are calling. When you receive a call on your mobile phone the message travels through the telephone network until it reaches a basestation near to you. The base station sends out radio waves, which are detected by your telephone and converted back to speech. Depending onthe equipment and the operator, the frequency that each operator utilises is 900MHz, 1800MHz or 2100MHz.The mobile phone network operates on the basis of a series of cells. Each cell requires a radio base station to enable it to function.There are three types of base station and each has a particular purpose:
The Macrocell is the largest type and provides the main coverage for mobile phone networks.The Microcell is used to improve capacity in areas where demand to make calls is high, such as shopping centres.
The Picocell only has a range of a few hundred metres and may be used to boost weak signals within large buildings.Each base station can only cope with a certain number of calls at any one time. So if demand exceeds the capacity of a base station an additionalbase station is needed.