

Build Your Own Cellular Network  - cwan
http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/25107/?a=f

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aw3c2
There have been interesting talks on GSM on the Chaos Communication
Congresses:

[http://events.ccc.de/congress/2008/Fahrplan/events/3007.en.h...](http://events.ccc.de/congress/2008/Fahrplan/events/3007.en.html)
-> Recordings on
[http://events.ccc.de/congress/2008/wiki/Conference_Recording...](http://events.ccc.de/congress/2008/wiki/Conference_Recordings/index.html)

[http://events.ccc.de/congress/2009/Fahrplan/events/3535.en.h...](http://events.ccc.de/congress/2009/Fahrplan/events/3535.en.html)

[http://events.ccc.de/congress/2009/Fahrplan/events/3654.en.h...](http://events.ccc.de/congress/2009/Fahrplan/events/3654.en.html)

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jolan
Awesome, can't wait to see more details! When I worked at Motorola we had our
own private cell network on campus which was fun to play around on.

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devicenull
Their blog has a lot more information then this article:
<http://openbts.blogspot.com/>

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biafra
What's most interesting to me is how the security of GSM will hold when GSM
stacks in mobile phones can finally be tinkered with. OpenBTS provides the
opportunity to program and test your own baseband software.

Think about fuzzing GSM towers.

Right now some enthusiasts here in Berlin are developing their own GSM stack
for cheap Motorola phones.

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Judson
The brief writeup says that any gsm phone will recognize an OpenBTS "tower",
does this mean that I could improve at&t reception at my house (for use with
my iPhone)?

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notauser
Short answer: No.

Long answer: No but you wouldn't want it to anyway.

Very long answer: You can essentially turn your mobile phone into a cordless
phone plugged into your own home phone system (via Asterisk). Caller ID
spoofing (or the co-operation of AT&T - no chance) is required to make that
invisible to the outside world. This means you pay land-line rates when at
home rather than AT&T rates.

Useful answer: If you want better signal at home buy a re-radiating antenna
like this one (this is not a brand I have used, just a demonstration of the
kind of thing you need): [http://www.alternativewireless.com/cellular-
antennas/wilson-...](http://www.alternativewireless.com/cellular-
antennas/wilson-antennas/wilson_cellular_amplifiers/wilson-soho-dualband-
cellular-amplifier-repeater.html)

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pmjordan
This sounds extremely cool, although I have a feeling the regulators won't be
too happy if I start broadcasting in the GSM band(s) with enough intensity to
be useful.

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eagleal
Not if you implement this in a third-world country, where regulators can't
enforce. (But, in a country like that, you may be forced with guns to shut
down :P)

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stcredzero
_Not if you implement this in a third-world country, where regulators can't
enforce._

Burning Man (Not exactly 3rd world. More like 2(e - Phi))

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cosmicray
Hmmmm... I thought the link between the GSM handset and the tower (or BTS) was
encrypted. Was this recently cracked ? If so, does this unit take advantage of
that ?

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sjs
I'm not sure if this unit does take advantage, but GSM encryption was cracked
late December 2009.

<http://www.google.ca/search?q=gsm+cracked>

