 - In cellular telephone communication, soft handoff refers to the overlapping of repeater coverage zones, so that every cell phone set is always well within range of at least one repeater (also called a base station). In some cases, mobile sets transmit signals to, and receive signals from, more than one repeater at a time.
Soft handoff technology is used by code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems. Older networks use frequency division multiplex (FDM) or time division multiplex (TDM). In CDMA, all repeaters use the same frequency channel for each mobile phone set, no matter where the set is located. Each set has an identity based on a code, rather than on a frequency (as in FDM) or sequence of time slots (as in TDM). Because no change in frequency or timing occurs as a mobile set passes from one base station to another, there are practically no dead zones. As a result, connections are almost never interrupted or dropped.
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Learn more about Cell Phones and Cellular Technology |
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| Cellular broadband is mobile and reliable: Cellular broadband is available from most of the major carriers now and in this guest column, John Shelper says it's reliable, available and relatively cheap. |
| Dual-mode Wi-Fi and cellular phones to grow: Dual-mode Wi-Fi and cellular VoIP phones are poised for huge growth, while mobile and single-mode phone sales continue to climb. |
| Mobile Radio Systems: This chapter is an intro to the various mobile radio systems. It provides a foundation for comparing competing mobile radio access systems for supporting mobile broadband services. |
| Cost-effective mobile connectivity: As companies facing mounting mobile connectivity costs you need to make sense of the available mobile connectivity options and reduce costs before they get out of control. |
| FCC releases list of 700MHz spectrum auction bidders: As the auction approaches, the FCC releases the list of bidders for rights to the 700MHz wireless spectrum. |
| Wireless carriers: The good, the bad, and the just plain annoying: It's not unusual for customers dealing with their wireless carriers to get bad service, but in his latest editorial Adama Brown recounts an especially bad example. |
| Managed mobile services: This managed mobile services series, examines services for device management, email, enterprise applications, and cellular telephony. It concludes with a best practices guide. |
| LAST UPDATED: |
11 Apr 2003
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