USA or Mexico alternative to OsmoDevCon?

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Mychaela Falconia mychaela.falconia at gmail.com
Wed Nov 3 20:14:27 UTC 2021


Hi Harald,

> I would consider this an alternative in the sense of "in addition to",
> but not in the sense of "either or".

Yes, of course - sorry for not making this part clear in my original
post.  Practically speaking, if I am going to host the proposed ITHG
(Inclusive Telecom Hacker Gathering), it would need to be scheduled to
not conflict with OsmoDevCon, allowing all ODC attendees to also
attend ITHG.  (*Everyone* who attends ODC is also welcome to join ITHG,
but obviously not vice-versa, given your current policies.)

> Fact is that the far majority of past
> and present active Osmocom developers are in or closer to Europe than
> to the Americas.  So from a "overall effort to get everyone in one place"
> from both a financial but also an ecological point of view, hosting it
> in Europe has advantages.

I would be willing to travel to Europe (anywhere other than Russia)
*if* someone were to host a conference or gathering that (1) allows me
to join despite my project being non-Osmocom PSS and (2) allows me to
join despite me remaining the way Goddess made me, vaccine-free.
However, if no one else steps up to host such an inclusive conference
or gathering and if I am the only one able and willing to organize and
host, then my part of the world (southwestern corner of USA or
northwestern corner of Mexico) is the only geographical area where I
can practically pull it off.

> If somebody (e.g. you in your proposal) wanted to organize an event
> about all kinds of free software / open source / "indie" telecom
> projects, I would certainly welcome it.  The more, the merrier.

OK, so let's throw around some potential dates for when I can host my
proposed ITHG in Tijuana, Mexico.  Here are two date range options I
currently have in mind:

Option 1: the second half of February or the first half of March 2022,
before the abomination of DST kicks in.

Option 2: some time in June 2022, two months after ODC.

Is there anyone at all from this community who would be willing to
travel to Tijuana in either of these proposed date ranges?

Duration: I am thinking of a one day event, but if the people who come
decide to stay longer, I should be able to extend to 2 or perhaps even
3 days - it all depends on the attendees and their level of interest.

Location: I am thinking of renting a conference room at a hotel in
Tijuana, perhaps at the same Hyatt where I stayed back in August for
medical tourism.  *If* everyone who is interested in attending can
gain entry into USA without difficulty, then we can hold our ITHG on
the USA side of the border instead - but I absolutely need to make the
event accessible to vaccine-free people from other countries, and if
you are in the latter category, then it is my understanding that
gaining entry into Mexico would be much easier than gaining entry into
USA - hence my leaning toward holding our ITHG in Tijuana.

Another advantage of the Mexican side of the border over the USA side
are the different policies of T-Mobile USA vs. Telcel Mexico regarding
GSM/2G phone users.  On the Mexican side of the border you can walk
into any Telcel store and buy a prepaid SIM that has the classic
GSM 11.11 SIM application still present, and operate it in any classic
GSM phone.  It even officially says "Compatible con GSM, 3G y 4G" on
the paper package in which those Telcel prepaid SIMs are wrapped -
official support for GSM/2G!  Not so easy on the USA side of the
border: T-Mobile still has their GSM network operational, but the SIMs
they sell in their stores (prepaid or otherwise) are maliciously
hobbled, with the classic GSM 11.11 SIM application removed.  One can
get an unhobbled SIM from a certain T-Mobile MVNO, but those are not
as easily accessible to visiting tourists.

> I am not aware of any similar events being hosted for the srsLTE/srsRAN,
> open5gs or yateBTS projects/communities.  The only (non FOSS but "PSS"
> in your definition) project with a track record of events/conferences
> I know of is OpenAirInterface.

If there is at least one person from Osmocom who would be willing to
join my ITHG, then ITHG will be a proper inter-project gathering, with
at least two projects represented: the putative person represending
Osmocom and me representing FreeCalypso.  Given that Osmocom is the
1000 pound gorilla in the room, the goliath compared to all other
indie telecom projects out there, there will need to be at least one
person from Osmocom agreeing to attend ITHG, in order for ITHG to have
legitimacy.  *If* we get that one person from Osmocom agreeing to
join, *then* I will reach out to YateBTS community, inviting them to
join as well - but we need at least one person from Osmocom to be on
board first.

M~



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