[FOSDEM] GSM BTS at Fosdem 2011?

[Sylvain Munaut]

Hi Benjamin,

long time no see :)


> Any plan to have a demo of OpenBTS for this FOSDEM?

I don't think so.

Nobody applied for a license AFAIK and it's not far too late for this
(the ibpt takes like 1.5 month to process a STA request).


> If money is a problem, I could try to find sponsors for that.

Well, money is not the only problem.

I'm not that interested in just providing a 'small' demo at a stand or
something.

OTOH, Running a live, usable network all over the FOSDEM ground,
that's interesting.
But to provide such a meaningful test network, you need equipement ...
that I just don't have.
Especially since OpenBSC and OpenBTS network are incompatible at the
moment. (can't interact at a GSM level)

And borrowing it from people not coming themselves to fosdem ist just
inconvenient (shipping / responsability for the equipement / ...)

There is also the issue of insurance. I mean all theses things
(BTS/USRP) cost _a_lot_ and I would not risk them without proper
assurance against stealing/damage. Even if 99.9 % of the people fosdem
are responsible nice people, it only takes one ... (and that's not
even counting outsiders that are not there for the fosdem).



Now it's not _totally_ without hope for the future:
 - People are working on BTS side of A-Bis so plugging openbts in
openbsc might become possible
 - Support for cheaper GSM microBTS is in the works (still 1kEUR ...)
 - Support for 3G femtocell is in the works (albeit more far off ...)
(theses are much cheaper ~ 100-200 eur)
 - Converting phone to BTS (very far off as well, but we're hoping :)


Cheers,

    Sylvain