Each mobile uses a separate, temporary radio channel to talk to the cell site. The cell site talks to many mobiles at once, using one channel per mobile. Channels use a pair of frequencies for communication. One for transmitting from the cell site, the forward link, and one frequency for the cell site to receive calls from the users, the reverse link.
Communication between mobile units can be either half-duplex or full-duplex. In case of half-duplex, transmit and receive communications between the mobile units are not at the same time, i.e. talking and listening can not be done at the same time. In case of full-duplex communication, transmit and receive communication is at the same time, i.e. one can talk and listen at the same time.