Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!decvax!ucbvax!think.UUCP!johnl
From: johnl@think.UUCP (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: How big is a cell?
Message-ID: <8802202249.AA05734@ima.ISC.COM>
Date: 20 Feb 88 22:49:52 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: ima!johnl (John R. Levine)
Organization: Not enough to make any difference
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Approved: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu

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