Cell Phones: Network Busy!?!?!?!

[Jinx]

Is it a possible that a cell tower can be overloaded? I was at Union Station in Washington, DC trying to place a call. The signal was strong, but the call could not be placed! My phone gave me a message "Network Busy"! This is a Cingular phone, and I know their network leaves a lot to be desired, but this is ridic-u-lick-u-lick-u-lous!

...Makes a great paperweight, though!
- Jinx

[kellner]

Originally Posted by Jinx

Is it a possible that a cell tower can be overloaded?

Absolutely. This is why far more towers are needed in city centers than in rural areas. Whenever you have far more people with cell phones in an area than usual this will happen sooner or later. e.g. Large festivals or similar events in otherwise not so densely populated areas can cause this.

[badmana]

Cell phones depend on the fact that not everyone is using them at any given time.

Whenever an emergency happens you'll often have this issue. Cell towers only have so much band width to handle calls, if all the towers reachable by your cell phone are busy, you cannot make and/or receive calls.

[mischievous]

Yup. Happens here every time a major disaster strikes. Like New Year's Eve.

mischievous

[Revtim]

Originally Posted by badmana

Cell phones depend on the fact that not everyone is using them at any given time.

Pretty much the whole phone network is like that, since way before cell phones.