Strictly speaking, that’s not entirely true. In a true cellular system, you are connected to only one antenna at a time, and are handed off to the next nearest one when you move through cells. In a PCS system, you are connected simultaneously to at least 2 antennas, and handed off to at least one additional one as you move through their coverage area. PCS is not called cellular to differentiate it based upon this. Since you are connected to multiple antennas there aren’t any discrete cells, hence the terminology.
And then there’s the idea of pico-cells, which are intended to cover only a building or so.
Not that I’ve heard – people still call them cell phones.
And I think it’s unlikely to change to “mobile”, since there is a theory in linguistics that words used frequently tend to become shorter. (Just like you used phones rather than telephones.)
I’ve observed that “mobile” is gaining momentum, taking share away from “cell.”
By the way, as soon as cellular service became common in the late 1980s, they were called “cellular phones.” The shortened version “cell phone” is fairly new.
If you are only connected to one antenna, will PCS service work? I ask this because I know several people who cannot get a reliable Sprint connection in some areas, while people with other providers have no problem. I know that if there’s not a tower in you’re area, you’re SOL as far as getting a signal goes. But could the 2-antenna requirement account for some of my PCS difficulties? I can be in areas that are supposed to be covered my Sprint, but are pretty spotty.
Yes, it will work, it just won’t work well. I probably should have said the system tries to connect you to multiple antennas. It doesn’t always succeed.