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max2

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 31, 2015
6,409
2,036
Curious why does cellular get saturated unlike hardwire lines ? I understand now why a cellular connection could never replace a hardwire line for internet streaming high quality 4k videos and movies.

I know what people are going to say why or what is the need to have a 4k quality video on such a small phone or tablet screen. I don't care. Still nice to have.


P.S. I know I won't get many replies here.
 

barbu

macrumors 65816
Jul 8, 2013
1,262
1,052
wpg.mb.ca
The regular phone system can indeed be overloaded (no circuit available) and has happened many times.
The reason a cell tower gets saturated is there are only so many timeslices of so many channels available. So if you have, say, a huge outdoor event near a tower, service starts degrading. It’s a limited resource like anything.
 

now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,726
22,558
Think of a cell tower as a funnel. Only so much water can go through it at a time.
A land line (cable or fiber) is more like a 10 ft wide drainage pipe.
 
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