b1-66er: Why's a cell phone called a cell phone?
What's it a cell OF?
Robotron: "Cellular" refers to the architecture of the wireless network, where the physical space is divided into individual cells. Each cell has antennas and equipment to handle all the phones that are in that cell. A cell can hand off a user to a neighboring cell when the user moves.
Each cell only has to handle a finite amount of users. This is the design that makes it scalable.
b1: So great.
Does anyone aside from you, Wayne-o, Woz and Bill Gates know that?
Robo: I'm not even sure the architectural features that gave it that name are still applicable. By the time it got to Europe, they wound up adopting the more general term "mobile".
b1: Do your super genius children?
Robo: Not a chance.
b1: Okay. So it's kinda obscure. I'm not a complete NOP for not knowing it.
Is the phrase "cell phone" antiquated? Is it like talking about a transistor radio?
Robo: I'd bet no one under the age of 30 knows it, unless they are in a related field.
The network is still "cellular", in that you move from one cell to another. But the term is a "leak" of technical jargon into the public lexicon that shouldn't have happened. The device manufacturers and carriers should have done a better branding job at the start, way back when.
b1: I hear your dad voice when you say that.
(I actually chuckled.)
I think I'm going to blame Wayne-o about the fact that i say "cell phone." I'm calling him the leak. I don't care if he is or not.
SUPER great story. Thanks. And thanks for taking the time.
Robo: Sure. Blaming Wayne-o is a good idea.
