5 ms·

A question for folks who know things I don't: if I wanted my phones to work in an area without cell signal, for just me and my family, is it possible to build a

A question for folks who know things I don't: if I wanted my phones to work in an area without cell signal, for just me and my family, is it possible to build a "personal" cell tower that our phones would just connect to and work, and allow us to text each other? Or is there a whole layer of auth required for our various phones to actually be able to use a fake network?

joshmarinacci 1y ago
Not really. This stuff is heavily NDA and patent encumbered. You’d be better off setting up a local wifi network and using an IP based audio call system.
- seidleroni 1y ago
  I'm not sure if this applies to all carriers but with many carriers if you are on wifi you can send/receive text messages and sometimes even make calls. Certainly you could use WhatsApp or similar in that case.
  - pavel_lishin 1y ago
    Not if I'm in the middle of the woods with no connection to the outside world.
  - mikestew 1y ago
    ...with many carriers if you are on wifi you can send/receive text messages... How would you propose that those messages get routed if there is no connection to either the internet nor a cell provider?
jonbiggums22 1y ago
Isn't this what Wifi Calling is for? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_calling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_calling
- jeroenhd 1y ago
  VoWiFi requires an internet connection. It dials back to your carrier. Nothing preventing you from configuring a local SIP server or doing IP-to-IP calls, though. I think every platorm imaginable has some kind of free SIP client.
aspenmayer 1y ago
Here’s a recent post I found on open source software for that. I remember a recent post about folks using base stations that were popular with the Helium network to run their own stuff, but I can’t find it at the moment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44936241 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44936241
f1shy 1y ago
Yes. There is a way to setup a private cell using SDR. There was a talk about that in Chaos Computer Club some years ago. I do not remember how they did with the simcards, if they were custom, or normal out of service ones. Caution: because the spectrum band is licensed, it will be automatically illegal pretty much everywhere! Here a quick search: https://www.reddit.com/r/sdr/comments/1bn1n5f/how_to_run_open_bts_legally/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sdr/comments/1bn1n5f/how_to_run_ope...
dragontamer 1y ago
Possible? Yes. Legally? No. But it's totally possible. There are micro-towers for cell phone testing you can buy and cell phones think it's a real tower. Law enforcement uses one of them to track criminals IIRC. But it's very tightly regulated.

joshmarinacci 1y ago

Not really. This stuff is heavily NDA and patent encumbered. You’d be better off setting up a local wifi network and using an IP based audio call system.

seidleroni 1y ago
I'm not sure if this applies to all carriers but with many carriers if you are on wifi you can send/receive text messages and sometimes even make calls. Certainly you could use WhatsApp or similar in that case.
- pavel_lishin 1y ago
  Not if I'm in the middle of the woods with no connection to the outside world.
- mikestew 1y ago
  ...with many carriers if you are on wifi you can send/receive text messages... How would you propose that those messages get routed if there is no connection to either the internet nor a cell provider?

jonbiggums22 1y ago

Isn't this what Wifi Calling is for? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_calling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_calling

jeroenhd 1y ago
VoWiFi requires an internet connection. It dials back to your carrier. Nothing preventing you from configuring a local SIP server or doing IP-to-IP calls, though. I think every platorm imaginable has some kind of free SIP client.

aspenmayer 1y ago

Here’s a recent post I found on open source software for that. I remember a recent post about folks using base stations that were popular with the Helium network to run their own stuff, but I can’t find it at the moment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44936241 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44936241

f1shy 1y ago

Yes. There is a way to setup a private cell using SDR. There was a talk about that in Chaos Computer Club some years ago. I do not remember how they did with the simcards, if they were custom, or normal out of service ones. Caution: because the spectrum band is licensed, it will be automatically illegal pretty much everywhere! Here a quick search: https://www.reddit.com/r/sdr/comments/1bn1n5f/how_to_run_open_bts_legally/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sdr/comments/1bn1n5f/how_to_run_ope...

dragontamer 1y ago

Possible? Yes. Legally? No. But it's totally possible. There are micro-towers for cell phone testing you can buy and cell phones think it's a real tower. Law enforcement uses one of them to track criminals IIRC. But it's very tightly regulated.