What Is Cell Tower?

Cell towers are a big deal. They're where we go to get our phones charged, and they're also the place where we can get a signal when our phone is dead. Yet what are they REALLY? Cell towers are like little cities, full of people and cars and streetlights… but instead of people, you've got electronics and antennas. Instead of cars, you've got transmitters. Instead of streetlights… well, there's an antenna on top of each one! Cell towers are high-powered radio stations that send signals to your phone, so you can make calls and send texts. They're built into tall structures so the antennas can reach above the other buildings and mountains in your area. They need to reach as far as possible for everyone's phones (and other devices) to connect with them. You want one close by when you're looking for a cell tower. You don't want to have to travel across town to get a signal, and you don't want the people around you to be able to hear your conversation. That's why cell towers are grouped in geographical locations where the population density is high, and there are likely to be large numbers of cell phone users. This helps avoid saturation of the available capacity (and thus busy signals), which could result in unhappy consumers. Cell phones are designed to be aware of the nearest tower. This is shown to the user as signal strength, representing connectivity strength between the user's location and the nearest service tower. When a user calls, radio signals search for the nearest tower. The receiving antenna of that cell tower then picks up those radio signals and starts finding out where they came from. In other words, it starts searching for your phone! Once found, those radio signals are transmitted back to you and communication is established with back-and-forth radio signals passing until both ends are connected!