[Swannie]

The problem is, running something like this would be a) illegal due to frequency problems and b) if we leave aside the legal implications, you might be killing valid emergency service calls.

That said I think it's excellent for the direction of future telco developments.

[erikabele]

Egypt did shut-down mobile networks, right? So you'd be enabling emergency calls! And re illegal: if you start burning cars in the streets then I'd argue that running an 'illegal' base-station is one of your minor problems...

[stcredzero]

I think someone should start a Kickstarter site where weatherized mobile base stations are developed from off the shelf parts, such that they can be quickly assembled, packaged, and shipped to neighboring countries where there is a totalitarian Internet blackout, so they can be smuggled across the border.

Even IM, SMS, and small still images are a threat to such regimes, especially in times like this.

[Swannie]

Good idea, sadly OpenBTS being 1/10 the cost of existing infrastructure, still makes it (ballpark figure) $5k to operate something like the BurningMan 1 BTS network (so cheap in the telco world! Ohh, I'm not considering the power system in that figure).

Sure, GSM is ubiquitous, but WiFi is getting there and more commoditized. (Completely O.T. but I find the lack of people hacking their HP printers with WiFi in, quite a lack!)

We get closer and closer to a William Gibson-esque world all the time.

[stcredzero]

Good idea, sadly OpenBTS being 1/10 the cost of existing infrastructure, still makes it (ballpark figure) $5k to operate something like the BurningMan 1 BTS network

This is well within the budget for a well publicized Kickstarter campaign. Just a dozen of those in the capital city for 1 week would be extremely valuable.