For this video, join Michael Fisher, aka MrMobile, as he tours two of AT&Ts cell towering services sites. One is located in Duxbury, Massachusetts, within the steeple of an old parish church. The other is high up Mt Washington, where chilly temperatures and brutal winds prevail.
Cell towers, for which the preferred term is cell site, enable phones to function as telecommunication devices. A cell towering service site consists of antennae and ground equipment that transmit and receive radio frequency (RF) signals from cellular devices.
The ground equipment consists of a backhaul which is a conduit to the landline network (for a reliable link to the internet) or a link between the main network and other smaller subnetworks. Lead-acid batteries and a generator provide power for at least a day in case the power goes out.
Signal transmission from cell towering services sites drops exponentially away from the source. For instance, at a distance of 50 feet away, the signal is already 16 times weaker. That would explain why there are so many around.
