TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Cellphones Aloft: The Inevitable is Closer

Re: Cellphones Aloft: The Inevitable is Closer

John Levine (johnl@iecc.com)
12 Dec 2004 01:37:47 -0000

>> The picocell linked to several antennas inside a cable that gathered
>> signals from passengers' cellphones and sent them all to a small
>> satellite dish, ...

> Hey! Maybe they could do the same thing in buildings as well, and we
> wouldn't have to worry about running over the thousands of people
> wandering around in parking lots talking on their cellphones because
> they can't get a signal inside the building :-).

Mobile carriers put tiny cells all over the place if there's likely to
be significant usage. You find them, for example, in the tunnels
under Boston harbor so people can continue talking on their cell
phones while they drive as fast as possible to the airport. (Boston
traffic is already so chaotic that the extra safety hazard is
negligible.)

If there's a lot of people in building and crummy cell coverage, it
might be fun to call a cell carrier or two and see if they're willing
to put in a picocell. I would imagine that some buildings with steel
insides might be impractical to cover since the frames act like a
Faraday cage and kill any signals.

John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711
johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com,
Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

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