Hello all,

Many thanks to the initiators of this project - I am quite excited, for probably all the reasons you are excited, but also for this reason:

An open source fourth generation cellular Evolved Packet Network, end to end.

I am presently following the OpenLTE project to make an open source eNodeB (LTE base station) on a Linux computer, and an Ettus SDR, most likely a B200 or B210, depending (I'd like a B210, for the 2x2 MIMO, but you pay for it - you can still get a 20MHz/ 100Mbps down Gen 3 carrier out of a non MIMO radio). They already, as of two weeks ago, have a primitive eNodeB application working, providing FDD downlink only at the moment - it'll talk to your phone, but won't listen to it.

Now, I'm not interested in Voice over LTE or Video over LTE, I'll leave that to people who actually like talking on phones. My primary interest in this is long range, high bandwidth cellular data networks - delivering a whole heap of data up to 30km away, in a real time fashion.

With an eNodeB that I have the source code for, and an open source LTE UE (such as the Neo900) I can examine if there are any bottlenecks in the system, and code to the metal if I have to, to get the latency to the lowest humanly possible level. LTE has an over-the-air latency of 1ms, but "common carrier" networks are experiencing up to 70ms latency for data. My data will be QoS enforced, with certain levels of data taking priority in real time due to safety concerns, and yes, the whole network, from real time controller on mobile robot, to the UE, to the eNodeB, to the high bandwidth backhaul, to the servers and backbones themselves, must be designed with only one policy in mind.

Since its totally my network, and I control it, not an unknowable, and unapproachable, telecommunications company, I can make my own QoS rulings, based on what I feel is priority data, and make intelligent contention decisions, based on users per cell, and prioritised data being fed in.

Now, if any of this ever transmitted into an antenna (for the worry warts out there) I'd be breaking every law in the book. I know what a dummy load is, and I know how to use one. I am not going to break any laws, just to prove my point.

However, with even a 2x2 Gen 5 MIMO, you're getting speeds of 300Mbps down. That is incredible.

However, I'm not asking for that in the Neo900, my questions are:

* Will the phone have a modem specifically for Australian bandplans (850MHz HSDPA+, 900/ 1800MHz GSM, 1800MHz LTE - I use Telstra SIMs when I'm not using my TEST SIMs)?
* Will I be able to interrogate the modem for important information that most users would find banal, but would be crucial for wringing out every last little bit of speed out of such an open source network I've described?

Now, I'm behind this project, you have my vote, and eventually, my money will be laid on a table for an upgrade board for two of my three N900s. I like the idea of simply swapping out a motherboard, and you have an upgraded phone, this idea is long overdue. And no, I don't believe in 4K displays on a teeny tiny thing. Sorry Apple, you don't have my vote. I highly suspect what I'm asking will be more than possible, or someone in the community will know how to make it happen. But a confirmation of some sort would be great, and make me lay part of my uni scholarship early next year on the table for the upgrade boards. Then I would wait impatiently until I could upgrade my phone like my desktop, or the Macbook Pro I am rebuilding, newer, faster motherboard to replace the one that has a dead graphics chip, along with 8GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD.

A final thought - to totally misquote:

"Motherf*cker please! My sh*t is GPL!"

Well, it is Custom, right? So its gotta be GPL =)

Long live open source!!!

Shane.