Daily Wireless reports on a neat low-power-consumption, open source cell phone network installed at Burning Man, the yearly festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, that serves some 50,000 people.
The system is only “as big as a shoebox,” Edens says, and requires a mere 50 watts of power “instead of a couple of thousand” so it is easily supported by solar or wind power, or batteries. It performs as well as any other GSM base station which has a maximum range of 35 kilometers and a typical range of 20 kilometers.
The OpenBTS-based cellular network at Burning Man has the power to change the world, says Network World. The super low-cost, solar or wind powered base station, provide free cellular service to anyone with an ordinary GSM cell phone.
This is the third year that the low-cost, open source cellular network has offered free cell phone service to the 50,000-ish attendees at Burning Man, which began August 30, in Black Rock City, Nevada.
“We make GSM look like a wireless access point”, says one of the project’s three founders, Glenn Edens.
It costs pennies on the dollar and it’s completely legal, explains their FAQ
Hmmm… I was at burning man and tested every day with my iphone and had signal but couldnt either call or receive. The people I checked with didn´t either. Many received a text message and didnt know what to do with it.