How Mobile Phones Work Behind the Scenes

adamengst writes "We seldom think about how our mobile phones actually work, but in this TidBITS article, Rich Mogull pulls back the covers and peels away the jargon to explain why text messages work when voice calls are dropped, why your battery lasts longer in some places than in others, why you're not allowed to use phones on airplanes, why you can be notified of a voicemail message when your phone never rang, and more."

Already slashdotted!

[Gizzmonic]

Should I try it from my mobile phone?

Re:Already slashdotted!

[old7]

Their web server must be a cell phone.

Shortlist of answers:

[iamdrscience]

The real answers:

why text messages work when voice calls are dropped

Text messages are magic.

why your battery lasts longer in some places than in others

Some places are magic.

why you're not allowed to use phones on airplanes

Pilots are afraid of magic.

why you can be notified of a voicemail message when your phone never rang

Voicemails are magic.

Re:Mirror

[commodoresloat]

Here's a much better mirror [artandanti...porium.com].

Re:Shortlist of answers:

[TheRaven64]

why you're not allowed to use phones on airplanes

Pilots are afraid of magic.

And so they sould be, since they emit pilot killer rays [penny-arcade.com]

How it Works for Me

[sycodon]

1. Dial number, tower recieves signal and discards number.
2. Dial again, tower connects and routes call around the world before connecting to the called number.
3. Tower waits for conversation to begin and injects random noise, removes every third word, and then disconnects.

Re:Mirror

[eln]

Just what exactly are you trying to pull? That mirror is defective! I can't even see my reflection in it!

Next on Slashdot.

[SeNtM]

Stay tuned to Slashdot for our next featured article, "The Mysterious Wheel."

When we will discover:
1. What is a wheel?
2. Why does a wheel roll?
3. What magic has created such a device?

Re:Working link

[Nerdposeur]

Not anymore!

Re:wrong audience, buddy

[shadow349]

However a friend of mine who is a balloonist years ago told me what happened when he used a cell phone in flight - chaos! ... multiple cell towers cannot easily handle being contacted by a single phone moving 500miles an hour.

Holy shit! What type of balloon was your friend piloting? Was it one of those Led Zeppelins I've heard so much about?

Re:Already slashdotted!

[Piranhaa]

You forgot the best part about texting. Assuming it's not at night, you can do it more inconspicuously while driving!

Re:One thing didn't get explained at this moment..

[ScreamingCactus]

How do articles keep getting slashdotted when no one ever reads them? (On that note, here is a shortened version [mit.edu] of the article.)