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How do cell towers work?
Posted on 11/21/21 at 4:48 pm
Posted on 11/21/21 at 4:48 pm
I live in remote area of eastern Washington State. The cell reception here is terrible. At&T is currently building a cell tower about two miles on a mt right above our farm, perfect line of sight. Will my Verizon cell plan pick this up or do I have to switch to AT&T? Thanks
7
Posted on 11/21/21 at 5:03 pm to Chief One Word
Commonly, each carrier has to build/lease tower space for its antennas and network gear to cover a small geographic area. Back in the day, I was involved in some wireless roll outs. At that time (1999-ish), carriers would sometimes work out roaming agreements which allowed carrier A to have its customers use carrier B's cell for a fee. I am not sure if that is still a common practice or not since I have been out of that game for many years. If so, there is at least some hope that Verizon has a roaming agreement with AT&T. Maybe some others can chime in since I am a wireless dinosaur.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 7:16 pm to Grillades
Cingular?
Posted on 11/21/21 at 7:55 pm to Chief One Word
Posted on 11/21/21 at 8:04 pm to Chief One Word
Company A builds a tower and companies B C and D lease space and services on it.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 9:56 pm to Chief One Word
Unless your IMSI allows for dual usage of ATT and Verizon services the answer to your question is no.
And to be fair your IMSI is just a pointer to numerous checks and balances inside the core network that identify who you are, I just don't feel like talking about call processing end to end.
And to be fair your IMSI is just a pointer to numerous checks and balances inside the core network that identify who you are, I just don't feel like talking about call processing end to end.
Posted on 11/22/21 at 7:00 pm to Chief One Word
AT&T and Verizon operate on different wireless frequency's.
A Verizon phone cannot pick up a signal from an AT&T antenna.
It is possible for Verizon to lease space from AT&T and install their own antennas, but there is no way to know if they will or won't. If they don't install their own equipment, then it will not improve your reception.
Side note, AT&T will probably sell off the tower as soon as it is built to one of the tower holding companies. They probably worked out the sale of the tower and the cost to lease back their space before they broke ground on the tower.
A Verizon phone cannot pick up a signal from an AT&T antenna.
It is possible for Verizon to lease space from AT&T and install their own antennas, but there is no way to know if they will or won't. If they don't install their own equipment, then it will not improve your reception.
Side note, AT&T will probably sell off the tower as soon as it is built to one of the tower holding companies. They probably worked out the sale of the tower and the cost to lease back their space before they broke ground on the tower.
This post was edited on 11/22/21 at 7:04 pm
Posted on 11/22/21 at 9:45 pm to Chief One Word
They work the exact same your wireless internet router works, just scaled up.
99% of all data transferred from your cell phone is through the same boring way that phone data has always been transferred: physical wires. It’s just the last tiny bit that goes wirelessly between you and your nearest cell. It doesn’t go to space
. You generally need to be within 1 - 2 miles - if that - from your nearest cell tower to get any service FWIW.
99% of all data transferred from your cell phone is through the same boring way that phone data has always been transferred: physical wires. It’s just the last tiny bit that goes wirelessly between you and your nearest cell. It doesn’t go to space
. You generally need to be within 1 - 2 miles - if that - from your nearest cell tower to get any service FWIW. 
Posted on 11/23/21 at 12:21 pm to Chief One Word
Just added one 500 yards from me and service hasnt changed a bit.
Posted on 11/24/21 at 9:17 am to Gusoline
Probably either 1) a different carrier, 2) it’s not online yet, and/or 3) a 5G radio incompatible with your device (not sure what you have)
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