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.

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!

Answer 2

In a standard network setup you would need an antenna, a BTS, a BSC, a MSC, a GGSN and a SGSN to to 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.

Answer 3

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

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3022574/testing-mobile-sites/3023848#3023848

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