Communications - Cell Towers

[emt seeking first job]

Anyone know a link for info about how many calls/cell phones a given cell tower can handle.

I assume if thousands of people, at an event in a park for example, could overwhelm the tower calling in an incident.

I tried to STFW but to no avail.

Thank you.

 

[Aidey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_traffic#Traffic_load_and_cell_size

The very short answer is that there is no fixed number because there are a lot of variables. Yes, cell towers can be overwhelmed.

 

[mycrofft]

OP, empiric answers from disaster response sources

1. As a rule, in a mass emergency, local and sometimes neighboring area cell coverage is quickly overloaded by users.
2. In events covering a region such as a city or larger, or in the event of an extremely rapid and severe local overload, the cell towers will turn off "to prevent damage" (??sic). This can also be done selectively, includingi in some instances selective passage of certain authorized calls, IN allowed but OUT blocked, etc. This has been verbatim from disaster repsonse professionals I've spoken to over about ten years.
3. In disaster situations COW's (mobile cell facilities) are sometimes available to move in and start settng up an ad hoc cell patch when cell antennae are out of commission.
4. Still, although a landline is a good thing, you cell phone is a handy device if you are in a covered area, have a car charger in your car as well as a 110 volt wall charger with you during travel or respnding to disaster.

SIDEBAR: no, NexTel's "walkie talkie" feature will not bypas cell shutdown, it is just a dedicated network afforded their clients.
SIDEBAR DEUX: landlines may be severed between cities due to damage to satellite antennae or misalignment /loss of microwave links.

 

[emt seeking first job]

I am just curious, no practical reason I asked.

The other day on my old skool land line, I got the all the circuits are busy.

Is it publised somewhere or has anyone hears how many calls it takes to swamp the system, either landline or cell.

I rmember it happening when the OJ verdict was announced in '94.

 

[DrParasite]

The other day on my old skool land line, I got the all the circuits are busy.

Is it publised somewhere or has anyone hears how many calls it takes to swamp the system, either landline or cell.

I rmember it happening when the OJ verdict was announced in '94.

and on 9/11, and the 93 bombings, and the blackout of nyc, and every New years eve from around 1130pm to 1am.

I would imagine a lot of it is carrier specific, but I am sure there are too many variables to give a hard an fast answer