Editing Microcell (section)

{{Short description|Cellular base station}}
{{About|the mobile telephony concept|the Canadian cellular telephone service provider|Fido Solutions|the AT&T product|Femtocell}}
{{About|cell phone technology|biological cells|nanocell}}

A '''microcell''' is a cell in a [[mobile phone network]] served by a low power [[Mobile phone|cellular]] [[base station]] (tower), covering a limited area such as a mall, a hotel, or a transportation hub. A microcell is usually larger than a [[picocell]], though the distinction is not always clear. A microcell uses power control to limit the radius of its coverage area.

Typically the range of a microcell is less than two kilometers wide, whereas [[GSM#Base station subsystem|standard base stations]] may have ranges of up to 35 kilometres (22&nbsp;mi). A [[picocell]], on the other hand, is 200 meters or less, and a [[femtocell]] is on the order of 10 meters,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/12/do-we-really-need-femto-cells/ |title=Do we really need femto cells? &#124; VisionMobile :: Blog |access-date=2010-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416235037/http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/12/do-we-really-need-femto-cells/ |archive-date=2011-04-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> although AT&T calls its femtocell that has a range of {{convert|40|ft|m}}, a "microcell".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/3gmicrocell/faq.jsp |title=AT&T; 3G Microcell™ - Wireless from AT&T |access-date=2010-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221133651/http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/3gmicrocell/faq.jsp |archive-date=2010-02-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref> AT&T uses "AT&T 3G MicroCell" as a trademark and not necessarily the "microcell" technology, however.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/3gmicrocell/faq.jsp |title=AT&T 3G MicroCell - Wireless Signal Booster - Wireless from AT&T |publisher=Wireless.att.com |date= |accessdate=2014-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221133651/http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/3gmicrocell/faq.jsp |archive-date=2010-02-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A '''microcellular network''' is a radio network composed of microcells.