The radio transmission path carrying data and voice from a cell tower or base station out to a mobile handset or endpoint. In satellite communications, it encompasses both the uplink from the ground station to the satellite and the downlink from the satellite to the user terminal. System capacity is often limited by the forward link because the base station has to transmit to many users simultaneously.
The handset is showing full bars but the forward link is completely saturated by streaming video traffic.
Also heard as
- downlink
Do not mix it up with
- Uplink: An uplink is strictly ground-to-satellite or mobile-to-base, whereas a forward link is the logical path from the core network to the user.
Related terms
Reverse link
The radio transmission path from a mobile device back to the base station.
Uplink
The communication path originating from a remote device and traveling toward the core network.
Base station subsystem
The section of a cellular network that manages radio links between mobile devices and the core network.