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From: rees@pisa.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Signal Propagation Characteristics?
Message-ID: <15769@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 2 Jan 91 18:53:25 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 5, Message 4 of 11


In article <15746@accuvax.nwu.edu>, chapman@alc.com (Brent Chapman)
writes:

>... What are the propagation characteristics of cellular service?  I
>was under the impression that it was tuned to be strictly a
>short-range (i.e., less than ten miles) system...

At cellular frequencies (800 MHz) it's pretty much line-of-sight.  If
you are on one mountain top and the cell antenna is on another, you
could have a range of over a hundred miles even running very low
power.

I always get a kick out of the business droids on the subway in Hong
Kong, impatiently punching their cellphone buttons while the
no-service light is on in the tunnels.  They've been talking of
putting slotline (leaky coax) in the tunnels to extend the coverage.

Two questions: If I buy a cellphone in HK or Singapore, will it work
in North America?  And if I have no "home" cell service provider, or
my provider is in HK, can I get roaming service here in the US?