how far do cell phone towers transmit?

[theNEOone]

any ideas?



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[Eli]

Depends on the terrain...

 

[Crazymofo]

I think you'll need to be a little more specific... what type of cell phone?? what do you mean by transmit??

 

[Nebor]

Depends how far you can throw it.

 

[theNEOone]

errr, i meant cell phone towers. let's assume normal, even terrain on a regular day (no weather abberations.)



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[theNEOone]

anyone?

 

[Mark R]

Depends, on the transmission power, antenna design and positioning, surrounding terrain, etc. However, the more important factor is how far your cell phone can transmit (no point in hearing the tower, if it can't hear you talk back). Some towers are very high power cells - designed for maximum area, others are 'coverage' cells, low-power sites to fill in small gaps in coverage, or to provide additional frequencies in highly populated areas. Height of the tower matters - the lower it is the quicker the curve of the earth will obstruct it (this may have been a deliberate decision).

My experience is with GSM, and it is apparently possible to pick up French networks on some parts of the English South Coast (a distance of about 20 miles) although I've never actually had this happen myself. I have, however, made several calls while at sea at a distance of 10-15 miles - further than that and the call quality is too poor.

GSM itself has a hard limit to the operable range (even if the signals are strong) of about 30 miles. More than that and the signal takes too long to get from the tower to the phone, and the timing systems are unable to sync up.