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COW
| Ah, and you probably thought a cow was a farm animal? Not in
cellular or wireless. A COW stands for
"Cellular on Wheels". When cellular phones talk wirelessly, the
wireless portion is only a few miles or less through the air till the
call is received by a land line base station
in a cell site. The call may then be
routed onward by more normal phone lines after that point. |
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One possible appearance for a C.O.W. |
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The need for "COWs" is when the fixed portion of the cellular system
- the cell sites and base stations - are either damaged or cannot handle
the traffic for a large event. In this case, portable cell sites,
about the size of a small truck, can be driven to an area of a city to
either take over for a damaged cell site or to help it for a large
event. Large sporting events - certainly Olympic Games - might
easily be a reason for needing a few COWs to handle the added cellular
traffic.
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