Gadget
How do cell phone signals find my cellphone?
I live in Northern Ontario. I recently travelled to Michigan and continued to receive calls on my cellphone. How does the signal find my cellphone? I know that cell towers transmit the signals, but does that mean when I call someone on their cell phone that the signal is broadcast on all towers until it "finds" the right phone?
Public Comments
- yes
- No, your cellphone is in constant communication with the cell towers that it can receive and communicate with. This tells the cell company's computers where you are, so that when a call comes in, it goes to the tower nearest your current location.
- Here is a guess: When your cellphone operates (ie, is switched on) it sends information to the nearest towers to identify itself to the network, sort of like an ip adress. I think the identifier is the NAM code.
