Cell phones

I've often noticed that my cell phone works nearly all the time when I'm traveling along the interstate highways, no matter if I'm many miles from a town. But, often, when I go off-interstate, and take back state roads and highways, I lose reception until I get near a town --

Just wonder if anyone knows why that is -- it's as if the interstate has an antenna all along it, even though I often can't see any towers or power lines ... Any comment from a tech genius ?? Thx M44

You have it correct. The most of the cell towers are along the interstates and main hwys. Of course there are some in Citys also.

Bill

Yeppers!

Cell towers provide service within a cell or area around the tower. In areas of high demand, the cell towers are located so they can support each other so that as you move from one area to the next, your signal is passed to the next tower and cell. Cell companies are in the business of making money. Few or no customers mean little or most likely no cell service.

That is why Internet satellite dishes are a logical choice for folks who camp off the beaten track as opposed to cell service air cards.

Curt

There are several reasons that one doesn?t get 100% cell coverage. The cell frequency is very high and the power output is limited by the FCC; therefore, the signals are generally a line-of-site range. It?s also one reason that you may get a dropped call when you drive into a low area along the highway. The range of a single tower is only about 9-10 miles and the radiated signal is transmitted in an umbrella type pattern. This is why you can?t get a cell signal when you are at altitude in an airplane. The signal isn?t normally transmitted upwards. Also, it is extremely expensive to put up a cell tower. It?s one reason most all of the carriers have roaming agreements with each other. Cheaper to pay for that than put up your own tower. It?s also a reason that towers aren?t in less populated areas. Not enough revenue to pay for them. Even along many interstates you may not have cell coverage. It depending on how far you are between populated areas.

If you have a planned route or absolutely need coverage enroute, you can always go to your provider's website and find a diagram of it's signal coverage in different parts of the country.

Guess I asked the question wrong -- what I was curious about was the fact that I nearly always get coverage along the interstate highways ... and so wondered if cell towers are following the interstate routes for some reason -- even though they are not seen along the highway ???

In other words, we get coverage, but see no towers?? So they must follow somehow ... maybe the towers are on the large power tranmission lines, which also follow the interstates ( usually anyway) ...

Then as I read these responses, it makes sense that tower coverage is near the interstates because the interstates connect towns and cities as well, so the towers cover the towns?? Was only curious about the coverage factor...

Cell towers are fairly easy to spot. The antennas at the top of the tower are white colored, horizontal to the ground, and spaced equally around the top. Each antennae looks like a piece of 6 ft x 12 inch wood plank. There are at least four of these antennas on each tower, but normally the number is six. It?s sort of like a lamp shade that has no connection.