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No. Cell phone calls use cell towers, fiber optic lines, and switches. When your call is placed, your phone sends it to the nearest cell tower. The cell tower then uses a high speed fiber optic data line to pass your call to a switch. The switch then connects your call to to the phone you are calling. If you are calling a land line, the call is routed, on the cell carriers land based network, to the nearest switch to the land line. If you are calling another cell phone, your call is routed in a similar way to the nearest cell tower of the person you are calling.

I'm sure you have seen a cell tower while driving. Search Google images to see what they look like.

You can get a satellite phone, but it is not worth it for most of us. Average cost is 100 minutes for $150.

People interested in this answer also may also be interested to know, most internet traffic does not use satellites either. It is routed through similar fiber optic cables and switches as cell phones.

The only internet connections that makes much use of a satellite are those users who connect to the internet with a home based satellite, similar to Satellite Television. These are mostly used in rural areas where DSL and cable are not available. Even this signal is routed directly from your home to a satellite. Then directly to a land based switch that in turn, connects to the land based fiber optic lines for the rest of the journey.

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