Wireless telephony has been around for a hundred years now, so it’s not really a new technology. Mobile phones are essentially radio transreceivers, sort of a walkie talkie you used to play with when you were a kid, except that using mobile phones, two people can talk at the same time. Since these phones are radio devices, they use a lot of frequencies. As more people start using, it would encompass a wider range of frequencies. So the scope of growth was limited.
The breakthrough happened when reuse of frequencies became possible. This was done by dividing the city into logical units called ‘Cells’ (hence the name cell phone) inside which a phone and the base station (The tall towers that you see here and there. They control the radio equipment inside a cell) transmit to each other. Since both the phone and the base station in each cell use low power transmitters, they can’t interfere with each other, and hence the same frequency can be reused. Neat, isnt it?
More breakthrough happened when lower and lower power consumption became a trend. Each day, the power consumption of devices is getting lower, which means lower sized batteries, and so more space for packing features and hence slicker and sexier cell phones!
3G technology is the latest in mobile technology, which is pretty much like a mini laptop, which can reach broadband speeds, supports video conferencing, and even sending and receiving faxes!
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