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~
