How fast does my voice travel over a cellphone?

I'm not sure if I worded that correctly or if it's a stupid question, so excuse me if that's the case.

Say I call someone across the globe on a cellphone, does that sound travel at the speed of light? I ask this because we've been sending radio broadcasts into outer space since the beginning of the 20th century and those transmissions have been speeding away from us at the speed of light. By now, they have reached other star systems in our own galaxy.

So, does that only work in the vacuum of space, or are sound waves over a cellphone transmitted at the speed of sound here on earth?

Well the radio legs of the transmission do, but remember there are all sorts of computing gubbins both in the 2 handsets and the network. - then you also have the tiny distances between the mic / speaker and the head... If you want to be picky.

Originally posted by Impreza
So... are sound waves over a cellphone transmitted at the speed of sound here on earth?

Actually, closer to the speed of light than the speed of sound. Your voice is converted into an electrical current and transmitted as a signal rather than actual sound.

Here's a more thorough explanation:
How fast does sound travel through the telephone?

Hope this helps.

 
[speeling]

[edit on 16-2-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

^ Ah, thanks a lot, mate! I looked around a bit before posting my question here, but all I got was that sound travels at such and such speeds depending on temperature and all. That was not at all what I was looking for.

Thanks to you, however, my headache has gone away as it's finally been cleared up for me. Thank you!

I tried it... only with another mobile right next to me. There was a delay of about a third of a second meaing I heard what I said roughly a 1/3rd of a second after I said it.

Almost like an echo.

[edit on 16/2/2008 by C0bzz]

If the signal has to go to a satellite, it takes a little longer than if it just has to go by wire because the satellite is a lot farther away.

If you are using a mobile most of the time the delay will be between 1/3 and 2/3 of a second.

The handset communicates with the cell phone tower on two channels at a time one send one receive it is considered a full duplex transmission in that you can talk and listen simultaneously.. one your transmitted voice signal hits the tower it is then sent down the coax there can be a delay here not noticeable without equipment depending on whether or not there is a TMA (tower mounted amplifier) from the coax it enters the BTS (the transciever) where it is converter from a digital wireless transmission to a digital wire transmission (from GSM, TDMA, CDMA, GSM, to the proper formating to ride on a T-1.

once on the T-1 the speed varies depending on the signaling used SF (super frame) ESF (Extended Super frame) the T-1 can move data at 1.544 Mbps
the data (MULAW is the compression algorithm used on wireless) is then sent to a BSC (base station controller) where it it processed and sent by T-1 to either your local PSTN (public switched telephone network) or the closest tower to the caller receiving the call on wireless..

at any rate even network slowdown or over usage can delay the time of your call..

The handset itself does radiate the signal into space but at 3/10 of a watt the maximum allowed by law some will be absorbed by the atmosphere (could be small could be large depends on solar activity and how charged the ionosphere is) a large majority will be used up when the signal goes from being omni directional to circularly polarized (a process that happens when an RF signal penetrates that atmosphere called faraday rotation).

At any rate yes some of your signal gets out there how much I don't know with out doing a lot of math and the math depends on frequency power levels not actual power but ERP (effective radiated power you can increase your ERP with the use of an external antenna if you handset has the capability and they are not that hard to make look up a yagi or quagi or a quad and how to make them this will give you more answers the rest of the math depends believe it or not depends on the soil where you live the better the soil the better the ground plane and so on and so forth you I could go on for days and days but you probably already stopped reading so

Thought I might add that electricity only appears to travel at the speed of light electrons move through conductors very slowly now the charge carrier moves quickly but electrons do not..

www.newton.dep.anl.gov...
www.eskimo.com...

Best wishes
Respectfully
GEO

[edit on 2/17/2008 by geocom]

^ Wow, that is very informative. And no, I didn't stop reading. I actually enjoyed reading your response as I learned a few things, so thanks a lot for posting. Thank you for the links, as well!

a reply to: Impreza

Its about the ping travel latency between you and the transmitter and the other person on the call. It is usually .060ms

originally posted by: Impreza
I ask this because we've been sending radio broadcasts into outer space since the beginning of the 20th century and those transmissions have been speeding away from us at the speed of light. By now, they have reached other star systems in our own galaxy.

I thought the general consensus was that because TV and Radio transmissions are not directed into space, the Inverse Square Law means the signal is attenuated into background static by the time it reaches the Heliopause?

Voyager probes are a different story altogether and Mankind should be racing to retrieve them before someone else works out where they came from....

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