Making calls
When a voice call or data transmission is made on a mobile device, voice or data is sent from the device and transmitted by low powered radio signals to the nearest base station, which in turn is connected to our network.
Each base station provides coverage over a given geographic area, often referred to as a cell. Cells can be as small as an individual building or as large as 20 miles across. Each cell is equipped with its own radio transmitter and receiver antenna. This network of cells provides, within certain limitations, coverage over the service area.
When someone using a mobile device approaches the boundary of one cell, the mobile network senses that the signal is becoming weak and automatically hands over the call to the transmission unit in the next cell into which the device is moving.
If the voice call or data transmission is intended for delivery to another device which is not on our network, the information is delivered through a public or private fixed line telephone network or the internet.
In a second generation (2G) network, each cell contains a base station using a number of radio frequencies or channels. A group of base stations is connected to a base station controller, which in turn is connected to a mobile switching centre and then via a gateway support node for access to a fixed line network or the internet.
High-speed data
In a third generation (3G) network, voice or data traffic is passed through a ‘node B’, similar to a base station in a 2G network, to a radio network controller, which is then connected to a mobile switching centre, similar to a 2G network.
We have started to upgrade our existing 3G networks to offer 3G broadband (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) which enables data transmission speeds of up to 1.8 Mbps in the first phase, with potentially up to 14.4 Mbps achievable with later releases. This will provide our customers with faster access speeds than experienced on existing 3G networks.
HSDPA is enabled by deploying new software in the 3G radio network and expanding the processing capabilities of the ‘node B’. Significant performance benefits are achieved by using the radio interface more effectively.
HSDPA is supported on recent Vodafone Mobile Connect Data Cards and compatible Vodafone live! handsets in many of our mobile operations.
While HSDPA focuses on downlink (network to mobile), we are also working on improving the data speeds in the uplink (mobile to network) to achieve speeds of up to 384kbps.