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After using a "debug mode" of my mobile phone that tracks things such as "Active Pilots," "Neighbor Sets", and "Recieve FER%" I decided to research the protocol my phone carrier uses, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). I was fascinated how I can get 300k connections wirelessly through my mobile phone in contrast to my old lowly 56k wired modem I had for so long before broadband connections were widely available. I also wanted to understand what the magical debug screen terms meant. I found this article which gives a good high-level overview of how the protocol works. It starts with the original system used in north america and progresses through cdmaOne to the current CDMA2000 standard. Fascinating reading for anyone interested in cellular networks.