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A Private GSM Cell?
mr number two asks: "I live in the mountains and have poor GSM reception. I can buy an active repeater to boost signal strength in my home to good levels, but what I'd really like to do is have a private GSM picocell, such that at home I would be connected to my own PBX. Calls to my home phone number would ring through to my cell phone. I wouldn't have to worry about a home cordless phone (and 802.11 interference) and I'd have all my speed dialing / contacts info right there. There are many other benefits. Ignoring FCC licensing issues, is there a base station I can purchase which has a signalling interface that will interface to a small PBX?"
Everything is available for a price.
On the other hand, I might suggest searching for a solution that does not ignore the rules. Rules for communication systems are (for the most part) fairly sane. The avoid pesky things such as cross talk, interference, etc. But hey, this is Slash, who really cares about that kind of thing ;)
-- www.WhereHaveIBeen.com
Don't waste your time.
The SIN card you have in your phone is tied to your provider. The provider paid millions/billions to license a GSM band in the US.
The technology that actually powers this is inhibitivly expensive. If you wanted to hack your own non-rules based GSM station, then you'll have to worry about the FCC and anyone else not liking you break the law.
It'd be more feasible to hack in a second antenna, talk circuit into your cell. I don't see it being easy even on bulky phones, but its possible.
Bye!
Sure. You can do what you want but the hardware is incredibly expensive and you'd need a license to operate as a telecoms provider which also is incredibly expensive. If you're looking for a way to reduce your cell phone bills then this isn't it.
Since you're going to be operating a transmitter it's not going to be too hard to find out where that rogue cell signal is coming from either.
Don't think that they won't notice because you're up in the moutains. People are employed to drive around with a pile equipement and do site surveys. There was an article with pics about it recently.
T-Mobile has been rumored to offer in-home VoIP service in the fall of 2005. It wouldn't be legal for you to run your own "picocell" as the GSM frequencies are licensed, even in those picocells that the carriers deploy in malls and sporting events.
T-Mobile's rumored new service will utilize a new class of mobile phones which are GSM and WiFi hybrids. While you are away from home the handset works like a normal GSM phone. When you get home the handset switches to WiFi and connects calls using a wireless VoIP gateway that you connect to your high-speed internet connection. T-Mobile will bundle the hybrig GSM+WiFi mobile phone, the WiFi VoIP gateway device, and the VoIP service. To the mobile phone user the only thing they notice is that their T-Mobile phone works at home and they can finally drop that PSTN line.
This is in response to the overwhelming T-Mobile customers who tried to use number portability to switch their home phone numbers to T-Mobile and found that their mobile phone didn't work in their homes. Most of T-Mobile's spectrum is 1900 MHz which doesn't penetrate well into buildings. At the same time, T-Mobile (and the other carriers) were spending billions to acquire space in the 800 MHz spectrum to try to improve the situation but someone had the bright idea for T-Mobile to offer all-in-one GSM+VoIP service for much less money than building out their mobile GSM networks which already work really well outdoors.
I think it's a brilliant plan and it's much cheaper than giving everyone GSM repeaters at $500-$1200 per unit just so their mobile phones will work in the house (but never the basement)... of course the hybrid GSM+WiFi phone *will* work in the basement. It's simply brilliant.
Let's see if they really roll this service out.
Kriston