Mobiles
In the ever changing environment of today’s
world it would seem that nearly everyone you know
has a mobile phone, in fact you are in the minority
if you do not own one, to the extent that people look
at you funny when you explain that you do not own
a mobile phone.
The basic concept for mobile phones began in 1947,
when researchers looked at crude mobile phones situated
in cars, and realized that by using small cells (range
of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase
the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially.
However at that time, the technology to do so was
nonexistent.
Anything to do with broadcasting and sending a radio
or television message out over the airwaves comes
under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation.
A mobile phone is a type of two-way radio. In 1947,
the American AT&T proposed that the FCC allocate
a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that
widespread mobile telephone service would become feasible
and AT&T would have an incentive to research the
new technology. We can partially blame the FCC for
the gap between the initial concept of cellular service
and its availability to the public. The FCC decided
to limit the amount of frequencies available in 1947,
the limits made only twenty-three phone conversations
possible simultaneously in the same service area -
not a market incentive for research.
The FCC reconsidered its position in 1968, stating
"if the technology to build a better mobile service
works, we will increase the frequencies allocation,
freeing the airwaves for more mobile phones."
AT&T and Bell Labs proposed a cellular system
to the FCC of many small, low-powered, broadcast towers,
each covering a 'cell' a few miles in radius and collectively
covering a larger area. Each tower would use only
a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system.
As the phones travelled across the area, calls would
be passed from tower to tower. This is why we now
see so many mobile phone antennae dotted around the
city and rural towns, without them you wouldn’t
have the quality of cover you obtain from your mobile
phone.
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