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?
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You have to remember that cell towers have to take a lot of abuse as does the equipment on them. The sector antenna’s are generally around 12″ by 48″ by 6″ and most of what they house is just a grouping of antenna’s that are able to transmit and receive. But those sector antenna’s also connect to multiple devices. In more populated area’s more sectors will be pointed in each of 3 directions as they generally have a 120 degree useable field and 3 groups will cover 360 degrees.
The majority of the cell equipment is generally located on the ground and will fit in a room about 5′ by 5′ with 6′ tall ceilings and even then a ton of that is dead air space so the techs can work on it. They hold all the power conversion equipment as well as the transmit and receive equipment which there is a set for every sector antenna installed. Not to mention they have HVAC equipment to keep things cool. And don’t forget that they have to transmit data either through another tower so they have to have a wireless uplink/downlink and the equipment to handle that or some sort of computer that can send things through a land line.
However a smaller company (think a local cell provider that isn’t an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) can get away with 3 sector antennas and a piece of equipment about the size of a couple filing cabinets. With that they can have a cabinet that is about the size of 2 X 4 drawer filing cabinets. Sometimes they can use an omnidirectional antenna as well but that will connect even less people.
If you want to see a picture of a smaller cabinet being placed I was working at a building where they changed one out. It was a local company that was later absorbed by AT&T. You can also see some of the sector antenna’s for Sprint in the background near the guy with the blue hard hat on.
[https://files.ventshop.net/Pictures/crane/PICT0170.JPG](https://files.ventshop.net/Pictures/crane/PICT0170.JPG)
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