Topology verification process for controlling a personal communication services system

A method for controlling a Personal Communication Services system, which includes a plurality of base stations that communicate with a plurality of portable handsets, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) measuring and recording the received signal strengths of test signals transmitted in turn by each base station, that are received by the other base stations;
• b) repeating the measuring and recording step in response to a system restart;
• c) comparing the earlier recorded received signal strengths with the most recent recorded received signal strengths;
• d) disabling operation of the Personal Communications Services system when predetermined differences in the recorded received signal strengths are detected;
• e) recording a unique identifier from each base station together with an identifier of the port to which that base station is connected in the system during initialization of the system;
• f) if the system is not disabled in step d) after the system restart, comparing the current identifiers against the recorded identifiers;
• and
• g) disabling operation of the Personal Communications Services system whenever any of the compared identifiers differ.