I get how the phone can download from the cell tower, because cell sites use 20-50W directional antennas, much more powerful than the phone, so they can cover a large area.
But the phone’s antenna is omnidirectional, usually 1W max. That’s as powerful as a Wi-Fi access point. So how can it reach the cell site 2 miles away? Is it because cell site antennas have high gain, so they can pick up a very faint signal?
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Cell tower antennas power is lower than that, and a cell phone can go up to 4w (depends on the country, in the US it is probably more).
In any case, it can because the receiver has a very high sensitivity in both directions, and it is digital, so we can (and do) use TONS of error checking and correction, plus the data is sent multiples times. At some point it just goes through.
I can reach about 15 miles on my lora setup. It can only emit at 25mW max, and the signal power after antenna must not go over 14dB.
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