How a Mobile Phone Works

How A Cell Phone Call Works The Basics Cell phones are radio devices - they communicate by transmitting and receiving voice over an area. | First a cell phone radios the nearest cell tower (or site). When you make a call or turn your phone on, your phone sends a message via radio that's picked up by switch. the tower's antennas. Next, a wire or fiberoptic line carries the call down to the wireless access point, connected to a multi-port Wireless Access Point 4 Microwave (Wireless Backhaul) T1 or T3 (Wired Backhaul) Wireless Access Point The call (along with many others) gets routed to a The incoming call or data comes back from the back- backhaul – usually down to an underground wired T1 haul and up through the switch to the antenna, where or T3 line, but sometimes back up the mast to a power- it then hits your phone (presuming your phone is still ful line-of-sight wireless microwave antenna (typically communicating with the same site). If you are moving, only used either when there isn't a ground connection, or when the ground connection is poor). then there's a handoff-a new but more or less identi- cal cell site transmits the data to your phone, once your phone checks in.