[asterisk-biz] Femtocell VoIP Router: Exists?

[David Burgess]

Mr. Beckman -

We came close to doing what you describe by accident during our demo  
at Astricon last week.  You can probably cover the whole 5,000 space  
with one access point.  The only bad news is that you need legal  
authority to use the spectrum.  (You can quote me on that, BTW.)

We did it on a much bigger scale at Burning Man.  There, we used an  
SMS-based auto-provisioning system to deal with thousands of  
potential test users spread over a few square miles.  But it would  
also work in a conference room.

See http://openbts.sourceforge.net and http://openbts.sourceforge.net/ 
FieldTest2 for more information.

-- David




On Oct 21, 2009, at 8:44 PM, Nabeel Jafferali wrote:

> I would suggest taking a look at the OpenBTS project:
> http://openbts.blogspot.com/. They have accomplished what you are  
> looking
> for at Burning Man.
>
> --
> Nabeel Jafferali
> X2 Networks
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Peter  
> Beckman
> Sent: October-21-09 6:34 PM
> To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> Subject: [asterisk-biz] Femtocell VoIP Router: Exists?
>
> I've been looking for standalone Femtocell Routers that would allow  
> me to
> build a localized cellular network (rural conference space with no  
> cell
> towers nearby) that would enable existing cell phones, regardless of
> network, to be able to communicate with these routers and let me  
> backhaul
> outgoing phone calls to a VoIP gateway.
>
> It would also enable me to allow for Virtual phone numbers that  
> could call
> in and ring on phones connected to this small network.  I'm ok if  
> it is
> only GSM, but a combo CDMA/GSM unit would be very cool as well.
>
> We're talking a 5,000 sq ft conference space in rural Maine.  Maybe  
> 4 or 5
> femtocell routers could cover the entire space.  From what I've  
> read, most
> of the femtocell providers also have a giant, expensive "gateway" that
> would reside at the cell site.  Clearly this works if that is not  
> required,
> and if it is, the investment is not really reasonable.
>
> Are there any standalone femtocell manufacturers that would sell a  
> small
> quantity of devices that would be managed individually?
>
> I realize that incoming calls to the cell phone's real phone number  
> would
> NOT be routed via this system, but they wouldn't get to the phone  
> anyway
> because of lack of coverage.  At least this way people can make  
> calls with
> their cell phone, and possibly set up forwarding to the Virtual number
> before they arrive, so calls to their real number WOULD get through.
>
> Thoughts?  Providers?
>
> Beckman
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -----
> Peter Beckman                                                   
> Internet Guy
> beckman at angryox.com                                 http:// 
> www.angryox.com/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -----
>
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David A. Burgess
Kestrel Signal Processing, Inc.