You can swap out the programmable sim cards for an eSIM (finally).

Simlessly's RSP platform will let you generate a free eSIM profile for a single device for your bootleg LTE network. https://simlessly.com/products/rsp/

In the Netherlands you can run private 4G in the 1.8GHz GSM guard band. For indoor use with 200mW or less no license is required.

What kind of (cheap) hardware can be used for that?

These FreedomFi units seem to only support CBRS frequencies.

Makes me wonder if there are opportunities for community LTE networks?

probably not at present, depending on the size of the community - it looks like roaming between base stations was not solved.

This is an awesome writeup, and a very appealing idea.

It is possible,... There is a GNU/Linux distro that has all the software needed. "DragonOS" For all you (Wireless) networking endeavors... But over here at The other side of the pond... "transmitting" radiowaves is "Regulated" with a "Permit"/ham-radio license... and the spectrum already is "Distributed" between operators.

however.. i am not saying one cannot have fun?! Spending an afternoon sticking together a broomstick and an usbstick trying to contact major tom because that is literally what you will be doing.

get a conductive piece of "material" Plug into usb and try to let it radiate electromagnetic waves...

have fun and stay safe <3

Could this be used for LTE roaming? My parents live out in the middle of nowhere - no cell tower reception, but Starlink works so they have internet. I'd love to get them local LTE coverage for cell phone calls and text messages.

No wifi calling support? I had thought that was nearly universal?

Also, IIRC, LTE is mutually authenticated and your parents would not be able to attach to a private LTE network unless they have a SIM that's setup for it.

Wifi calling unfortunately has its quirks even if it could be used

I've never got WiFi calling working despite my network nominally supporting it. I'd love a technical deep dive if you know anyone who has written it?

I used to live on the US-Canadian border where the ATT signal consistently was outcompeted by Rogers and Bell, leading to my phone essentially never working. This was ~10 years ago and ATT provided us some hardware that provided a 3G connection locally when connected to our DSL connection.

LTE extender hardware from your carrier?

What is the range? Does it differ for indoor and outdoor base stations?

Could someone with knowledge of the crypto side explain why the CBRS Ebay listings mostly have 'crypto miner' in the descriptions? Are/were these popular with miners because they were just cheap NICs?

Love the article, what a fun project starting up a home mobile network!

Helium switched from LoRAWAN to some LTE-based thing at some point, guessing that's what happened here.

Is there a similar band available in europe/germany? I remember CCC Congress having some kind of their own phone infrastructure some time ago.

Usually yes, but it is not an EU-wide system. Contact your spectrum regulator and ask for what options are available for private 5G[1]. You can likely get a bit of spectrum in the 1.8GHz guard band, around 2.3GHz, or somewhere between 3.4-5GHz. Price is from free to thousands of euros, depending on the country, transmit power and whether you are using outdoor cells. A private mmWave cell will almost everywhere need to be under an experimental/R&D license (we don't have public mmWave networks).

If you can choose, it's best to take a TDD license, as the duplexer required for FDD base station operation is a relatively expensive device when operating on an uncommon band.

1) Private 4G wasn't really a big thing in EU, but in most countries the license you get is technology neutral and can be used with a 4G base station as well.

PS: Connecting the private LTE to the public telephone network with a publicly reachable number requires a public telecom operator permit in some countries. You will also need to pay for the block of phone numbers. Roaming to the public cellular network requires many extra things which are not cheap or easy to obtain. And of course you need to have a roaming agreement with the other operator.

Congress afaik relies on a temporarily borrowed/gifted license

How is latency and overall quality of experience of something like this vs wifi?

Seems like UK might be exploring something similar to CBRS with DAS

Right now you can buy a licence which costs a nominal fee https://www.ofcom.org.uk/spectrum/frequencies/shared-access (£80 per year gets you 10Mhz in 2300, 3.8-4.2 GHZ, or 3.3 pair in 1800)

pretty amazing, but is there a use case i'm missing? why not just standup wifi?

> why not just standup wifi?

Range.

Very nice work!

I might try this out

this is brilliant. nice write up