A cell phone has combined two technologies: telephone and radio. Cell phones work as two-way radios. They send electromagnetic microwaves from base station to base station. The waves are sent through antennas. This is called wireless communication.

There are two types of cell telephone networks:

· Analogue networks

· Digital networks

Most of the older cell phones use analog networks. All modern phones use digital networks.

As you talk on your phone, it converts your voice into an electrical signal, which is then transmitted as radio waves and converted back into sound by the phone on the other end. A basic mobile phone is therefore little more than a combined radio transmitter and a radio receiver, quite similar to a walkie-talkie or CB radio.

In order to remain portable, they need to have compact antennas and use a small amount of power. This means that mobile phones can send a signal over a very short range.

The cellular network enables you talk to your friends, however far away they are. This is done by dividing up land into hexagonal areas of land, each equipped with their own phone mast (base station.)

These massive phone masts pick up the weak signal from your phone and relay it onwards to another phone mast nearer to your friend on the other line. And if you’re on the move while you talk, your phone switches masts as you go without interrupting your call.