Belgian/Dutch border

[borjeg]

Originally Posted by Ties Brants

But the last tower won't be exactly at the border and they won't direct the signal in the direction of Belgium. They want to have coverage in the Netherlands, not Belgium. So if the signal stops 1 meter across the border they are okay.

Well... actually no. When planning cells, all operators want to have as muchs coverage as possible (and allowed) in neighboring countries, at least close to border crossing points.

The operators want to pick up the phones of incoming travellers in their own nets. According to GSM 2 standard, the roaming customers are only handed over to others nets when there is no signal at all. So once picked up... the operator gets all the roaming fees.

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by borjeg

The operators want to pick up the phones of incoming travellers in their own nets. According to GSM 2 standard, the roaming customers are only handed over to others nets when there is no signal at all. So once picked up... the operator gets all the roaming fees.

Hah, just like on the German-Polish border. There are extraterritorial towers that allow you to pick up Voda and TMO (or, indeed, for them to pick you up as a roamer) 20 km before the border on the Berlin-Warsaw railway and road. (I think this was done in part so that customs inspectors from Germany could stay on-network while in PL.) But it's a Pyrrhic victory, at least if you are on the train - while the signal from all three Polish networks is good and strong all the way from Warsaw to the border, once you get into Germany, there is no coverage along the railway line, and it resumes consistently only when you are well within Berlin city limits, 90 km later.