[tim333]

> "no cell handoff" I'm curious how this would work. Presumably in the pCell system the base station focuses the radio signals in something like a beam towards the device but this must have a finite range - I wonder how far - and when you go out of range the system must switch to another base station. Maybe you call this a different name than 'handoff' but presumably the switching base stations thing must happen some how?

[kristoffer]

The pCell is "synthesized" using all base stations in range I guess. Which base stations that are involved in your pCell changes as you move around ...

[tim333]

Ah - I see, thanks. I guess that's how they can focus the signal so narrowly to 1 cm or so. Looking at the numbers the wavelengths used for 4G are of the order of 1 ft so you wouldn't get much focus from a single aerial of similar dimensions.

[PeterisP]

Since multiple base stations are involved, there is handoff where the far away ones leave and new ones join - but unlike cellular systems, the end device doesn't have to do anything during the handoff, it's transparent.