Why does a cell tower need to be massive to transmit data to a smartphone but the phone’s extremely small antenna can transmit data back over the same distance?
In: 52
The cell tower needs to be somewhere all the cellphones can reach it. This means high up. Because of how buildings work, to get something up high, it needs to be pretty big.
The device actually doing most of the work is probably about the size of your refrigerator. We just have to put it really high in the air.
And that refrigerator sized thing is handling thousands if not millions times more calls and texts than you send. So it does need to have a bit of hardware. That’s why it’s so big.
Also it needs to reach other cell towers potentially. So there’s also that.
Latest Answers