A Private GSM Cell? 78
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?"
dual purpose phones (Score:1)
Heres a GSM to VOIP gateway (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-VOIP+GSM+Gateways [voip-info.org]
The site www.voip-info.org itself looked promising during my brief visit....
Re:Heres a GSM to VOIP gateway (Score:5, Informative)
The original question is asking for a way to use his cellphone as an extension on the PBX, so this wouldn't be useful in that situation.
Re:Heres a GSM to VOIP gateway (Score:2, Informative)
do you have broadband? (Score:2, Interesting)
This system has worke
Re:do you have broadband? (Score:1)
Re:do you have broadband? (Score:2)
simulInbox? (Score:2)
Also, any ideas on how to get Evolution to trigger a script, on receipt of the Vonage voicemail notification email, that sends an SMS to the Treo? With a speeddial hotbutton, or maybe a URL pointing to the Vonage WAV, closing that loop might put me into a si
Re:simulInbox? (Score:2)
Re:simulInbox? (Score:2)
BTW, Evolution is the MUA (email client) in the GNOME desktop that I use. It has message filtering, probably able to trigger an arbitrary script that could send SMS to my phone. Or, as you point out, I could get my MTA (like sendmail) to trap the message, and call an SMS-send script.
Thanks for the t
Re:simulInbox? (Score:2)
Ignoring FCC rules? (Score:3, Insightful)
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 ;)
Check with Tessco (Score:2, Informative)
Pipe dream (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:Pipe dream (Score:2)
Re:Pipe dream (Score:2)
Don't waste your time.
The SIN card you have in your phone is tied to your provider.
Really? I didn't know that place in the cellphone business too (although looking at the contract again it doesn't surprise me). How's the thermal insulation on these cards?
how about a long range cordless phone (Score:2)
Here's an example.
http://www.4cellular.com/cordless/ [4cellular.com]
Googling for cordless phone long range returned a lot of results.
Re:how about a long range cordless phone (Score:1)
Cingular (Score:2)
-bZj
You got the necessary huge sack of money then? (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Cordless Phone interference ? (Score:3, Interesting)
There are two options, either of which avoids the problem, either 900Mhz or 5Ghz (you weren't planning on deploying 802.11a were you ?)
Please tell me you didn't go out and buy the coolest phone a few years back in the 2.4Ghz range, and now aren't willing to "upgrade" to a 5Ghz phone.
Re:Cordless Phone interference ? (Score:2)
Re:Cordless Phone interference ? (Score:2, Informative)
And 5GHz phones have a tendency to not work as well (for me) through my house due to solid construction.
My microwave interferes with my phone, but neither interferes with my wireless.
Crappy 2.4GHz phones (a'la Panasonic) do, but that doesn't mean they all do.
Re:Cordless Phone interference ? (Score:3, Interesting)
There are two options, either of which avoids the problem, either 900Mhz or 5Ghz (you weren't planning on deploying 802.11a were you ?)
Please tell me you didn't go out and buy the coolest phone a few years back in the 2.4Ghz range, and now aren't willing to "upgrade" to a 5Ghz phone.
Make sure you take a look at your 5 GHz phone's spec sheet before purchasing.
Many "5.8 GHz" phones I have seen trans
Re:Cordless Phone interference ? (Score:2)
Most likely it is 5Ghz from the base station to the handset and 2.4Ghz from the handset to the base station.
The base station has to use more power to get the signal to go through walls at 5Ghz and they use 2.4Ghz from the handset to exte
Cell, or Network? (Score:5, Informative)
If you're looking for a "just you" thing, good luck. The GSM standards are pretty easy to get your hands on, and with a little ingenuity, you could build a GSM switch. It's basically a few DBs and hardware interfaces. That's where things get tricky. GSM cells (which you could easily purchase for $100,000 (CDN)) need to communicate to the switch using a standardized protocol over T1. So you'd have to build THAT network stack over some sort of Frame-Relay-over-T1 interface (which are often rather expensive in and of themselves... also, good luck with Linux drivers...).
I left out the possibility of buying a GSM switch, because I doubt you'd be on Ask Slashdot if you had that kind of cash.
Now I know you said "apart from FCC regulations" or something, but that's what's going to kill you. GSM uses a 200KHz carrier (at least with the 800 and 900 MHz spectrum), and to put a site on the air with any sort of wattage in any location of any use (you are in rough terrain, no? So you'd put in on a peak... and spread your signal pretty far) without interfering with anyone else and without the FCC turning your way is going to be quite tricky.
Re:Cell, or Network? (Score:2)
So, let's say, I could have a 200KHz wide carrier centered at, say, 937.9725MHz. That would be a 200KHz carrier in the 900MHz band.
Get me some of the crack you're smoking, because in no universe does that make sense in the given context.
Oooooohh... I get it. You're a 'troll', right? You're just making up stuff to insult other people with, pos
Re:Cell, or Network? (Score:1)
Re:Cell, or Network? (Score:2)
This topic reminds me... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This topic reminds me... (Score:2)
I would recommend a Barrett
Google to the resuce, once again (Score:1)
A different kind of cell (Score:3, Funny)
That could get you a 6 x 9 cell with a roommate.
Ask your provider (Score:2)
Odds are you can't do anything yourself (FCC). However your provider can. Complain that you don't have strong service and they might put a new tower up in your area. Depending on how much money you have to spend they might allow you to connect your VOIP network.
Re:Ask your provider (Score:1)
you're kidding right?
Once you've heard the words:
"No we don't have towers in that area and don't have plans to put one up
you'll realise how hilarious your suggestion is
Re:Ask your provider (Score:2)
Actually no. They do take customer input on where to put towers. It takes a year to install one, and they might decide not to put one up. If you don't ask for it though, they will never know you want it. If there is demand in one area and none in a different, they fill the demand. If there is a tower that nobody uses it is a waste to put it up.
Not to mention there is always some rich fool who can afford a hostile take over of a cell phone company just to force a tower in that area.
Re:Ask your provider (Score:1)
and as for "some rich fool" -- get real. most of the big us cell companies are wholly owned subsidaries of much larger corporations.
Two easiest options (Score:2)
Re:Two easiest options (Score:2)
http://www.iridium.com/ [iridium.com]
Re:Two easiest options (Score:1)
Re:Two easiest options (Score:1)
7. PROFIT!
Easy (Score:4, Interesting)
Back to the original problem (Score:1)
I bought a Nokia phone specifically for it's reception abilities, and I've had many people on the same wireless carrier that couldn't use their phone in places that I could.
Pick up a Nokia 6010 (basic phone) or 6230 (if you need all the features) and see if that fixes your problem.
Why fix the problem with a few hundred thousand dollars when a
Re:Back to the original problem (Score:1)
also, a lot of the supposed "improvment" may have to do with the psychological effect of differen
+"cell phone" +yagi .... line of sight antenna (Score:2)
Availability: Usually ships the same business day.
all Cellular and GSM phones excluding PCS phones
US $49.95
Re:+"cell phone" +yagi .... line of sight antenna (Score:2)
Re:+"cell phone" +yagi .... line of sight antenna (Score:2)
I had been using an old analog-only dual-mode Nokia phone but recently switched to a Kyocera 6036 (Palm PDA plus tri-mode handset) so I've been looking for a signal
Re:+"cell phone" +yagi .... line of sight antenna (Score:2)
cordless phone, 10 mile range (Score:2)
It was a cordless phone with something like a 10 mile range.
DECT (Score:2)
My next Ask Slashdot submission... (Score:4, Funny)
Why are you set on GSM? (Score:1)
Borrow phones from friends and make some test calls to see how they do. I wouldn't just go by number of bars.
Other possibility is to rig up a directional antennna and plug your phone into that (assuming it has an aux antenna jack). You won't be able to walk around the house and talk, but at least you'll have service.
Re:Why are you set on GSM? (Score:2)
Re:Why are you set on GSM? (Score:2)
T-Mobile is rumored to offer in-home VoIP service (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:T-Mobile is rumored to offer in-home VoIP servi (Score:1)
Great strategy.
Re:T-Mobile is rumored to offer in-home VoIP servi (Score:2)
The CEO of Verizon said this very thing [sfgate.com] earlier this spring. T-Mobile has been saying this all along and recognizes the practicality
Re:T-Mobile is rumored to offer in-home VoIP servi (Score:1)
first, the bars on your phone do not correlate to 100% signal to 10-50% signal. they often measure certain amounts of signal strength, ignoring issues like the actual quality of the signal.
a good cellular network should be accessible inside most buildings. otherwise, the network is poor. while some buildings *are* wireless-unfriendly, the issue is more often than not simply a poor network, and
Re:T-Mobile is rumored to offer in-home VoIP servi (Score:2)
Your other comments are valid and interesting.
Re:T-Mobile is rumored to offer in-home VoIP servi (Score:1)
I was _comparing_ bars, while you were comparing your "signal" as a percentage (of what?). So I assumed you got that info from bars.
GSM home base station exists, unreleased (Score:1)
picocell (Score:1)
http://www.ipaccess.com/ipaccess_2004_pages/bts.ht ml [ipaccess.com]
http://www.rivanetworks.com/nano/nano.htm [rivanetworks.com]
To operate one legaly you would presumably need to get an FCC experimental license for limited power output, or permission from an existing carrier.
One problem with most picocells or microcells is that they are designed to talk to the rest of a GSM network (billing and provisioning systems) and cant really be attached to a simple POTS or PRI line.
A perso
VOIP + WRT54G + OSS. (Score:1)
Re:VOIP + WRT54G + OSS. (Score:2)