mobile telecoms

[Avelon]

how does mobile telecoms industry work?

[Andy008]

Can you be more specific?

[Tim Baxter]

Physically it relies on short distance (extemely high frequency) radio communications between the cell phone and a local transmitter.  As you move and lose the signal from one transmitter you phone 'interrogates' the available signals from the next transmitters and selects the strongest and so on.  When the phone has selected its transmitter the info is fed back to the central network which then directs your incoming calls to your newly aquired transmitter.  This is how the feds can track the location of a cell phone user, even it's just switched on!