Can You Run an Open GSM Network?

OpenCell asks: "Here in Vancouver, cellphone companies are charging ridiculous amounts for basic cellphone plans. I'm wondering if it's possible to run an open/almost free GSM network on a small college campus. Assuming we could find the hardware and get the rights, is there open source software out there to handle most aspects for something like this?"

Comments

Frequencies

[HaeMaker]

To run the GSM network, you need frequencies in the right range, you'd have to get phones tuned to that frequency and a license from the FCC (Vancouver, WA) or the Canadian equivalent (Vancouver, BC).

You might be able to use 900Mhz or 2.4.Ghz, but you still need specially made phones and cells, and coverage would be poor.

I don't think amateur cell phones are possible.

WiFi phones may be possible, but coverage would be bad.

Re:Frequencies

[bprice20]

Don't forget to mention the coming possibility of wimax/ voip. It is my opinion that voip over wimax has the potential to replace the existing gsm network with a network built for data and voice. If Google, Intel, Skype, Yahoo, along with DirecTV, and EchoStar get there way regarding what is going to be done with the 700mhz spectum then we may see a national wireless broadband alternative. Check http://www.dailywireless.org/. In the mean time while an open gsm network may be something of dreams, there is at least one truely open gsm phone google: openmoko. One other note ubnt.com sells an atheros chipset based 802.11b/g card that does some majic to use 900MHz instead of 2.4GHz. I have read that people are getting near pico cell type range with these things. But thats not exactly what you want is it.

Neat Idea, But From Whence The Frequencies?

[cmholm]

The idea of an open gsm network would make for an interesting real world pilot project. Unfortunately, just about every nation considers the radio bands you'd normally want to work in to be big buck$. The parent Canadian poster can do a quick Google search regarding frequency assignments in her/his nation, and it's the same situation just about everywhere. You'd be charged a huge sum to license the bands, and/or an additional sum to be licensed as one of a limited number of com providers on those bands.

Theoretically, you could try this on - say - the ISM bands, but they aren't going to give you the same performance as the cell bands. In addition, purpose-built cell equipment isn't designed nor licensed to operate outside of the cell bands, so you'd have a lot of DIY on the hardware side. Not so bad on the provider side so much as on the user side... where're you gonna get the handsets? Yes, there are ISM YoIP handsets, but they aren't really set up for portable use. While ISM ain't what you asked for, it's really all you have available.

DECT

[ceroklis]

The short answer is no.

GSM is not designed for private networks, so forget it. What you want is DECT. DECT is a standard for cordless phones. It scales from a single cordless phone connected to a fixed line to business systems that cover a whole campus and connect to a PBX, making it easy to integrate to your existing infrastructure.

You can find dual DECT/GSM phones that seamlessly switch between the two networks. Here is a example of a DECT solutions vendor, which has a full range of offers: http://www.diacom.ie/kirk.htm.