There are a number of wireless standards currently in use in mobile communications systems. This page sets out a simple description of those that are currently being installed in parish churches.

Mobile phones need a network of transmitters. There are currently around 24,000 base stations in the UK, according to the government Radiocommunications Agency. A well-positioned site in the countryside can cover a circle of up to 15 miles diameter, but most cells are much smaller. In general, each operator has its own sites. Vodafone has about 8,000 sites, while T Mobile has 6,500. Increasingly, sights are shared, but there are still multiple antennas on a shared site.

Mobile phone base stations are linked together into a national network using either fibre networks or microwave links. If a base station uses a microwave link (sometimes known as backhaul) there will be a microwave dish next to the antennas.

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