Cell ID
Encyclopedia
A GSM Cell ID is a generally unique number used to identify each Base transceiver station
(BTS) or sector of a BTS within a Location area code (LAC) if not within a GSM network.
In some cases the last digit of CID represents cells' Sector ID:
Base Transceiver Station
A base transceiver station or cell site is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones , WLL phones, computers with wireless internet connectivity, WiFi and WiMAX gadgets etc...
(BTS) or sector of a BTS within a Location area code (LAC) if not within a GSM network.
In some cases the last digit of CID represents cells' Sector ID:
- value 0 is used for omnidirectional antenna.
- values 1,2,3 are used to identify sectors of trisector or bisector antennas.
Public Cell ID databases
A number of public Cell ID databases are available, see the table.| Name | Cells | Countries (MCC) | Operators (MNC Mobile Network Code A Mobile Network Code is used in combination with a Mobile Country Code to uniquely identify a mobile phone operator/carrier using the GSM/LTE, CDMA, iDEN, TETRA and UMTS public land mobile networks and some satellite mobile networks... ) |
Measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| http://www.location-api.com/ | 18 053 559 | 213 | 1170 | 1 183 000 000 |
| http://labs.ericsson.com/apis/mobile-location/ | 3 900 000 | |||
| http://opencellid.org | 610 168 | 168 | 208 | 49 101 675 |
| http://cellid.telin.nl | 133 637 | 61 | 165 | 832 474 |
| http://cellspotting.com | 111 287 | 591 | ||
| http://celldb.org | 138 582 | 221 | 640 | 2 649 453 |
| http://www.cellumap.com | ||||
| http://openbmap.org | 214 889 (702 075) |
169 | 579 | |
| http://www.navizon.com |
External links
- OpenCellID - an open source project, aiming to create a complete database of Cell ID worldwide, with their locations
- http://www.mrvfone.com.au/vfone/techtop/dec.htm some information on Cell IDs in Australia
- openBmap - a free and open map of wireless communicating objects (e.g. cellular antenna, Wi-Fi access points...)