Why is it so impossible to make phone calls in Manhattan?
Recent survey data reveals that callers in Manhattan experience dropped calls more often than in other parts of New York. link nyc I’m asking for help.
According to a survey conducted by Harris XSixty percent of Manhattan residents say they often get disconnected while on the phone, and the borough’s situation is significantly worse than other boroughs.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn residents had the second-highest dropped call rate, with 48% of residents feeling like their calls were dropped, followed by the Bronx (44%), Queens (38%), and Staten Island (30%).
This finding is at first glance counterintuitive when it comes to cell phone service and mobile internet networks, as Manhattan typically boasts relatively good infrastructure, but for one expert who explained the dichotomy, It stands to reason.
“Cities like New York City are very dense, and that creates a lot of problems,” said Ian Gillott, senior technical and research advisor at the institute. wireless infrastructure association. “New York City’s nature presents challenges you won’t experience anywhere else.”
According to Gillot, there are a number of compounding factors that are causing Manhattan to have a unique negative impact on mobile networks. One of the biggest culprits is what makes Manhattan so iconic around the world: its skyscrapers and many of them.
“The radio frequencies used by carriers don’t work well in buildings. These frequencies don’t interact well with steel or concrete, which can block the signal,” he said. “And, of course, New York skyscrapers are made of concrete and steel.”
“And on the outside, there’s this nice glossy glass that reflects the connectivity of your phone.”
To make matters worse, carriers like AT&T and Verizon use cell towers installed on rooftops, often above street level where most users are.
“So the connection from your cell phone to the rooftop tower can be blocked by the building,” he says. “That signal bounces off the concrete canyons of Manhattan. It can bounce off windows, get blocked by buildings, and cause interference.”
Beyond Manhattan’s physical landscape, the borough also deals with significant population density that can negatively impact adequate service.
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Because so many people live in such a small area, carriers need to install more cell towers than in rural locations where one base station can adequately serve a larger geographic area. will be needed.
“In the case of Manhattan, you have so many people living in such a small area that you need more cells to provide that capacity. A cell in New York can literally be a city block in that area. Because there are so many people in the area,” Gilot said. .
This can cause serious problems because the network on a mobile device can move from one base station to another more frequently after traveling a small distance.
“Suppose you’re on the phone while walking down 5th Avenue. The network actually hands off your connection to different cells as you walk down 5th Avenue. This is called a handoff. We will take over the connections between,” Gillott said.
It is during these “handoffs” that many dropped calls occur, technical experts explained.
“And as a caller, you shouldn’t notice that,” he added. “But there may be gaps, and that’s when a dropped call occurs. One cell is trying to handoff to the next cell, but it can’t.”
With many unwieldy buildings and extremely high population densities (along with many other factors), using a cell phone to make calls and use the Internet can be uniquely challenging.
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LinkNYC helps Manhattan cell phone users
Providing internet service through sidewalk kiosks, LinkNYC is ideally located to alleviate the stress caused by Manhattan’s cityscape.
On the one hand, LinkNYC offers free public Wi-Fi originating from kiosks, offering significantly better service than cellular networks such as 5G.
“Wi-Fi is definitely better if you’re staying in the same place,” says Gilot. “And if you have a cell phone site and you have so many people on it, if you can remove some of the people who switch to Wi-Fi, you can give more service to people who are still using cell phones. It will be left behind.”
LinkNYC has also started link 5g In 2021, it will deliver 5G cellular network connectivity from sidewalk poles in a much more efficient way than standard cell towers.
“This allows us to put coverage and capacity where we need it, and that’s obviously at ground level, because that’s where all the people are,” Gillott said.
In addition to being installed close to users and away from interfering buildings, the company can also install Link5G smart poles without the construction-related burdens of regular cell towers, allowing more connection points, reducing the dependence of users on each connection point.
Another benefit is that Link5G smart poles can be used by up to five providers simultaneously, eliminating the need for different carriers to build different towers.
“You can have multiple carriers in one location,” Gillott says. “The top of the Link5G can input wireless signals from five different carriers, so instead of AT&T being on his one street pole and Verizon on another, he can have it on the same street pole. You can have five carriers.”