A mass call event or mass calling event (also MCE in telephony usage) is a situation in which an extraordinarily high number of telephone calls are attempted into or out of an area, causing tremendous network congestion, and therefore service which is either significantly degraded or potentially almost completely unavailable.
An MCE is typically caused by a sudden disaster of some sort, such as an earthquake or explosion. One of the earliest examples was the Iroquois Theatre Fire in Chicago in 1903. The 1963 Kennedy assassination represented a mass call event for Washington, DC. One of the most notable examples of a MCE was the 9/11 attacks. A more recent example was the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, in which mobile network service was so degraded by people checking on the safety of friends and family (or reporting their own status to others) that journalists and the public both assumed that the networks had been shut down to prevent further remotedetonations, although this was not the case with any mobile phone company.
Access-class barring is one solution in such a situation, allowing public safety (PS) personnel such as emergency responders to have priority on the network, as well as general emergency calls to public-safety answering points (PSAPs). This typically only affects voice calls, therefore text messaging is a very effective way of communication during an MCE, as it only needs a brief connection to the network to be sent or received, and uses almost nothing in terms of network resources like bandwidth.
Mass call events can also be caused by planned events. In 1982, Eddie Murphy's Larry the Lobster shtick on Saturday Night Live resulted in record call volume, as Murphy held a live lobster and declared that the show's audience would determine whether he lived or died via telephone calls. The gathering in Washington, D.C. for the 2009 U.S. Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama also created a MCE. In this case, network overload was avoided by deploying multiple cell-on-wheels (CoW) units with their own wireless backhauls. This was a particularly major situation for cell carriers because many attendees wanted to be live on the phone (via voice call or video chat) with others who could not attend the ceremony, further increasing network usage.
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Greek: τῆλε and φωνή, together meaning distant voice. A common short form of the term is phone, which came into use almost immediately after the first patent was issued.
In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some types of repeaters broadcast an identical signal, but alter its method of transmission, for example, on another frequency or baud rate.
Telephony is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the provisioning of communications services over the Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), also known as plain old telephone service (POTS).
9-1-1, also written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is intended for use in emergency circumstances only, and using it for any other purpose is a crime in most jurisdictions.
Enhanced 911, E-911 or E911 is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known as E112 and known as eCall when called by a vehicle.
Base station is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reachable by a system of destination code routing. Telephone numbering plans are defined in each of administrative regions of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and they are also present in private telephone networks. For public number systems, geographic location plays a role in the sequence of numbers assigned to each telephone subscriber.
A cellular network or mobile network is a communication network where the last link is wireless. The network is distributed over land areas called "cells", each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver, but more normally, three cell sites or base transceiver stations. These base stations provide the cell with the network coverage which can be used for transmission of voice, data, and other types of content. A cell typically uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to avoid interference and provide guaranteed service quality within each cell.
A business telephone system is a multiline telephone system typically used in business environments, encompassing systems ranging in technology from the key telephone system (KTS) to the private branch exchange (PBX).
A landline telephone is a phone that uses a metal wire or optical fiber telephone line for transmission as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, which uses radio waves for transmission. In 2003, the CIA World Factbook reported approximately 1.263 billion main telephone lines worldwide. China had more than any other country, at 350 million, and the United States was second with 268 million. The United Kingdom had 23.7 million residential fixed home phones.
Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the line may blur.
The history of mobile phones covers mobile communication devices that connect wirelessly to the public switched telephone network.
The Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) was a pre-cellular VHF radio system that linked to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). MTS was the radiotelephone equivalent of land dial phone service.
A mobile phone signal is the signal strength received by a mobile phone from a cellular network. Depending on various factors, such as proximity to a tower, any obstructions such as buildings or trees, etc. this signal strength will vary. Most mobile devices use a set of bars of increasing height to display the approximate strength of this received signal to the mobile phone user. Traditionally five bars are used.
These are some of the links to articles that are telephone related.
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, or hand phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture and, therefore, mobile telephones are called cellular telephones or cell phones in North America. In addition to telephony, digital mobile phones (2G) support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications, business applications, video games and digital photography. Mobile phones offering only those capabilities are known as feature phones; mobile phones which offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.
Mobile technology in Africa is a fast growing market. Nowhere is the effect more dramatic than in Africa, where mobile technology often represents the first modern infrastructure of any kind. Only 10% of Internet users are in Africa. However, 50% of Africans have mobile phones and their penetration is expanding rapidly. This means that mobile technology is the largest platform in Africa, and can access a wide range of income groups. AppsAfrica reports Mobile App downloads will reach 98 billion which will have a huge benefit for mobile app developers in Africa
An emergency communication system (ECS) is any system that is organized for the primary purpose of supporting one-way and two-way communication of emergency information between both individuals and groups of individuals. These systems are commonly designed to convey information over multiple types of devices, from signal lights to text messaging to live, streaming video, forming a unified communication system intended to optimize communications during emergencies. Contrary to emergency notification systems, which generally deliver emergency information in one direction, emergency communication systems are typically capable of both initiating and receiving information between multiple parties. These systems are often made up of both input devices, sensors, and output/communication devices. Therefore, the origination of information can occur from a variety of sources and locations, from which the system will disseminate that information to one or more target audiences.
A wireless home phone service is a service that allows a regular wired telephone to connect to a cellular network, as if it were a mobile phone. It is an example of a wireless last mile connection to the public switched telephone network, also known as a wireless local loop.
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