Open Source GSM Network At Dutch Hacker Convention

solevita writes "Harald Welte, who's been interviewed previously by Slashdot, has written on his blog about operating an Open Source GSM network at the recent HAR2009 conference. Photographs and a description of the setup, run under license of the Dutch regulatory authority, are provided; essentially the setup consisted of a pair of BTS' (Base Transceiver Stations) running at 100mW transmit power each and tied to a tree. In turn these provided access to the Base Station Controller (BSC), in this case a Linux server in a tent running OpenBSC. The system authenticated users with a token sent via SMS; in total 391 users subscribed to the service and were able to use their phones as if they were on any other network. Independent researchers are increasingly examining GSM networks and equipment, Welte's work proves that GSM is in the realm of the hackers now and that this realm of mobile networking could be set for a few surprises in the future."

Comments

Re:What are the costs?

[MBCook]

I'm not surprised that little walkie-talkies might not work over long distances. FRS radios (which may not be legal for commercial purposes) are limited to 1/2 watt.

Amateur Radio would certainly work, with handhelds easily available that do 5W (such as the Yaesu VX-7R) or you could get models designed for cars that do much more.

The only problem with ham radio is you aren't allowed to use it for business purposes, so for anything other than chatting between farm hands you couldn't use it.

The only real problem I've seen with little radios like the VX-7R tend to be that the interfaces are horrible. They come from the "here is 20 buttons and 3 function keys, plus holding means something" school of interface design. I don't know if there are any with better interfaces.

Ooh! I know what you need. GMRS radios can be up to 50 watts and used for commercial purposes (I'm pretty sure). You need a license, but there is no test, just a fee (according to Wikipedia).

Re:What are the costs?

[bushing]

Can someone put a figure on the cost of equipment involved? This would be very useful for folks on large farms where radio (read Walkie-talkies) do not cut it.

The setup seems to be:

• two BTS with two TRX each - Each BTS is a surplus Siemens BS-11, which they are selling for 300 Euro. (I almost bought one at 25C3, until I realized they were almost 46 Kg each)
• two antennas -- included in the purchase price of the BS11
• E1-to-PCI interface card - 350 EUR

So, I'd call that about 1000 EUR, not including the Linux PC driving the whole setup.

Re:what it means

[Jared555]

The possibility of setting up 'free/cheap cell phone access points' so people can bypass att, verizon, etc.?

Re:GSM? Future? WTF?

[stupid_is]

Interesting. And here I thought that at least where I live, operators would love nothing more than to get rid of the old GSM networks in favor of newer technologies.

They can't do that quite yet but constantly larger part of data transfers utilize 3rd generation technologies... GSM will probably be around 5 years from now, I doubt it will be 10 years from now.

GSM and future just don't mix. Hackers should have looked at it a decade ago.

Laughable.

So you think that half the population of the planet are going to buy a new phone to get the latest whizzy l33t LTE/HSPA/UMTS gadgets? That idea is part of what provoked the inflation of the 3G auction prices back in 2000 - everybody thought UMTS was the Next Big Thing, but no-one thought to examine the true cost of installing it. Each one of those boxes at the bottom of the masts costs between $5K and $20K (depending on size & time at which you bought it - early kit was knocking on around the $20K/box mark) and a national network has thousands of them (except the one in Andorra, which I think has around 50!). So, mucho dinero to just buy the kit. Then you've got to install it (also lots of $$) and connect it into a decent backbone (UMTS promised data rates of up to 2Mbps (haha - most folks don't see more than 384kbps on vanilla 3G)), so you need a chunk of data bandwidth to the site (which in some countries is either/both of exorbitant and flaky). The upgrade to HSPA and its' enhancements promises 3-14Mbps, so even more bandwidth required. So all these companies who thought they'd make a bundle on a mobile data offering with no killer application lost out.

Now we're starting off the whole shebang again with LTE - marketing promises 100Mbps (reality maxes out at around 70, though, and no individual subscriber is likely to see that). Do we see droves of folks ditching their trusty GSM phone to get the latest mobile data gadget? Nope - not in the slightest. The GSM market is still growing - although the hardware vendors are being encouraged to make their kit as upgrade-to-UMTS/LTE-friendly as possible. There are over 3 billion GSM phones out there - they will still mostly be out there in ten years time. UMTS is only just kicking off due to the recent uptake in data dongles that you can stick into a USB port on your netbook. Nobody (or at least only the iPhone fanbois) is buying 3G phones to make video calls as nobody wants that. A phone call is still just a phone call, and GSM is very good at delivering that so no-one wants to change from GSM.

At best, you're going to see a data-friendly tech (UMTS/HSPA/LTE) overlay on top of GSM for most of the world for a long time.