1. Home
  2. General Telecommunications Forum
  3. How many conversations on a single cell tower/site and other questions? [Telecom]

How many conversations on a single cell tower/site and other questions? [Telecom]

Folks

I'm curious. How many conversations are typically available on a single cell tower/site? My understanding is that in rural Alberta there might be as few as

10 available conversations/frequencies/channels/whatever you want to call them.

It is my understanding that Telus in Alberta has several emergency cell sites on a truck available for special events and disasters.

1) How would they hook back into the main network? Microwave to a nearby point where they can tap into the phone network? Or do they place it right next to some point where they can tap in?

2) How do they coordinate frequencies? That's gotta be a pain given adjacent cell sites. Or are there some cell frequencies set aside specifically for these emergency trucks?

Tony.

Reply to
Tony Toews [MVP]
Loading thread data ...

Well, That Depends. Which technology - CDMA or TDMA[GSM], for starters? How many sectors?

Most carriers do. Usual terms are COWS & COTS - Cellular on Wheels/Trucks.

Yes. They can do either. It's also technically feasible to grab an existing fiber, say a CATV one. But thus far, CATV companies with fiber plant seem to be totally disconnected from cell carriers; even when they OWN parts of same. Yes, it's insane but what else is new?

No one would reserve a valuable freq. for occasional use. If adding capacity, such as at the Inauguration; I'd guess they take the freq set for their site that's furthest away, and reuse it. The COW/COT likely has low-level antennas with patterns restricted to that immediate area.

If replacing a down site [power, flood, tornado, etc. outage] it's straightforward; use that set.

Reply to
David Lesher

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.