Use of Repeaters

A repeater consists of an antenna and a simple radio transceiver without much intelligence
behind it. A repeater normally uses a simple point-to-point connection back to a remote base
station, which in turn communicates with a central office base station. A repeater has no switching or routing capability; it simply extends the reach of an individual base station in a
given direction, and is often used to reach a few isolated customers whose numbers do not justify
the creation of a complete new base station.
The installation of repeaters is a tactical move on the part of the network operator, one
that is indicated only in certain circumstances. As a rule, a repeater is less expensive than a fullfledged
base station because of the lack of switching and/or routing equipment, though one
still has to pay for the site and the radio. Because of its lack of intelligence, the repeater cannot
really augment the capacity of a network appreciably, but what it can do is enable the operator
to extend the boundary of the cell in one direction in order to encompass a few subscribers
who would otherwise be unreachable.