Hi Mychaela, I'd consider Rhizomatica the most successful, but we have run Osmocom with paying subscribers a few times, notably in Indonesia (https://kurti.sh/pubs/vbts_itid_15.pdf) and the Philippines (https://kurti.sh/pubs/Scaling_Community_Cellular_Networks.pdf). Neither of these are operational at the moment, having been deprecated for LTE instead (https://kurti.sh/pubs/CoLTE_Mobicom_2019.pdf). However, each included significant engineering efforts that may be useful for your own deployment. It can definitely be done and we used a bulk SIP-Based Voice/SMS provider (Nexmo, now vonage) to do it.
On Sat, Jun 4, 2022 at 10:35 PM Mychaela Falconia <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello Osmocom community, > > Is there anyone here who uses Osmocom CNI software to operate a "real" > cellular phone network (2G or 3G or both) anywhere in USA, or am I > going to be the first? By "real", I mean operating a cellular phone > network that strives to provide a user experience to its subscribers > that is as close as possible to what one would get from a "regular" > operator like AT&T or T-Mobile, aside from much much smaller coverage > area, perhaps as small as the operator's house and its immediate > surroundings. But aside from the tiny coverage area, all other > aspects of user experience need to be fully "real": each subscriber > gets a real 10-digit phone number in the North American Numbering Plan, > can receive calls and SMS at this number, and can place calls and send > SMS to the outside world, with the user's real NANP number appearing > as the source. The principal difference from a self-contained classic > NITB setup is that subscribers' MSISDNs are real NANP, rather than > made-up "extension" numbers, plus a PSTN gateway implementation for > outside connectivity. > > Is there anyone in USA (or anywhere else in the world, substituting > your country's "real" numbering plan for NANP) who operates an Osmocom > CNI network in this manner? If there isn't, I will be happy to be the > first, and I will also be quite happy to publish the source for all of > the custom sw components I'm going to develop for this task - which I > plan to implement as add-ons to Osmocom CNI, connecting via MNCC, SMPP > and GSUP interfaces, rather than patches to Osmocom sw components > themselves. However, if I am not the first to embark on such a > venture, it would be nice to know how others have done it before me, > so I can make a more informed decision as to what I can reuse vs which > wheels I would rather reinvent per my own taste. > > Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding > that Rhizomatica (the most "real" and "production" user of Osmocom CNI > I know of) does things differently from what I envision: aside from > being in Mexico rather than USA (hence no NANP), it is my understanding > (again, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that they don't give > their individual subscribers (end users) direct phone numbers in the > Mexican numbering plan, directly reachable from anywhere in the world > as +52-xxxxx, instead subscribers get "extension" numbers that are > meaningful only inside those special village networks. In other words, > a PBX-style network like the inside of a company with phone extensions, > rather than direct PSTN phone numbers. > > I currently plan on using bulkvs.com as my North American PSTN > connectivity back-end provider with real NANP phone numbers, at least > for voice - I haven't found a solution for P2P SMS connectivity yet, > but because of the complexity of the task, I decided to break it into > pieces and focus on just voice at first. However, if someone else has > already done something similar, operating your own cellular network > where your subscribers get real 10-digit NANP phone numbers instead of > just internal extensions, I would be interested in knowing whom you > use (or used) as your back-end provider for PSTN connectivity and > source of phone numbers, and if anyone was able to get P2P SMS > included in the deal. > > M~
