Creating a local CDMA or GSM network?

Question

I am developing a number of different mobile applications for a number of different mobile devices and I want to quickly test in a local development environment. I was wondering if it is possible (with some sort of hardware) to set up a local desktop CDMA / GSM base station for testing devices over a local personal cellular network. The range does not have to be very far. The alternative is purchasing a SIM card and plans for various carriers but not all carriers/network types are available in our area.

I'm sure I had seen some sort of desktop device that would let you setup local networks for development/testing purposes but can't seem to find it.

Thanks.

Antilogarithm

i think there is some way to set local network. but the station will be very expensive – Basidiospore

There are provides for "private GSM networks" (designed to span a building campus etc) but the "feature set" of the carrier will be whatever they decide to implement. If you want to test against specific carriers networks you would surely need to join that network anyway? – Monadelphous

It's more a matter of wanting to test a dozen of different devices with different network types CDMA, UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/EDGE, etc. I can't simply switch one sim card between them all to test them since one carrier doesn't support them all. I'd like to have them all connect to a short range local network that could then in turn connect to my local broad band service for data. Voice calling doesn't necessarily need to work. I just need data connections on all the devices. – Antilogarithm

Answer 1

About the least expensive such device I know is the Agilent 8960. It's difficult to give an accurate price, since it depends on the options you choose, but you are likely to need to drop about $30,000 or more for a new one.

GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSPA, CDMA 2000, 1x, EV-DO are all supported, although a box with all of those options in it will be well over the figure I quoted above!

The device has been around for a while though, so you may find something on eBay or via surplus sales and the like.

The upside is that it gives you an enormous amount of control over the cellular environment, and will let you do repeatable throughput tests (something that is really impossible on 'live' networks unless you use statistical techniques and many, many test runs) but the obvious downside is the price!

Dissuasive

Answer 2

In a standard network setup you would need an antenna, a BTS, a BSC, a MSC, a GGSN and a SGSN to do data traffic, all horribly expensive and requiring expert knowledge to get the stuff up and running.

If you are interested in experiments then try OpenBSC altough it might be difficult to find BTS hardware.

If you want to buy actual products then have a look at IPaccess. They offer picocell hardware. I am not sure though if their BSC can work without an MSC and SGSN. But still expect a 5-digit price. Tecore also might be worth a visit.

Test and measurement equipment manufacturers might be an alternative as well. There you should check if you actually can branch out the data traffic into the internet or some test server if you need that.

If you want to do this for a living and not for fun, I would assume that simply buying SIMs plus data plans is the cheapest alternative.

Frodeen

I think this question would be better adressed in the more specific QA site Telecommunications proposed here: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/104688/telecommunications If you like the proposal, ask your question there and follow the proposal as well – Thorazine

Answer 3

You can roll your own cell network! with http://openbts.org/ but stills you need a development kit(Hardware) which is a little expensive. Or you can try to hack your own phone to use it as a radio which is really difficult but cheap.

Bernat

Answer 4

The answer to this question may be of interest to you also, depending on what your application does:

Testing Mobile Sites

Essentially there are companies that offer a sort of virtual testing service, allowing you test phones with different location and operator combinations.

Idalla