Cell Tower Question

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on 19 Oct 2005
15:02:03 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>I hope this is the right forum for this.

alt.cellular.cingular would be more appropriate.

>I live about 100 feet from a SBC cell tower.

Presumably Cingular.

> The tower is about
>120 ft high. I have observed three types of lines going into the
>building complex/power station. One it a regular voltage power line.
>Second, is a regular phone line, that I suppose techs use to contact
>home office. Third is a fiber optics line.
>
>I was wondering is there anything I could tap into as far as either
>getting Internet access? Would I still need an antenna for
>picking up transmissions from the tower?

You need a Cingular wireless device and data plan.

>Would it be better to splice
>into the fiber optic cable?

That'a a joke, right?

>What would that cable contain? Are there other forums that would have
>more info?

alt.prison

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

---

› See More: Cell Tower Question

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:21:06 GMT, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote:

>>I was wondering is there anything I could tap into as far as either
>>getting Internet access? Would I still need an antenna for
>>picking up transmissions from the tower?
>
>>Would it be better to splice
>>into the fiber optic cable?

>That'a a joke, right?

You're no fun. As the unofficial representative of the Dark Side(tm),
I think it's perfectly feasable to tap into the cellular fiber
backhaul. Of course, this is for academic purposes only and should
not be construed as criminal activity or vandalism.

The fiber cable probably has about 50 fibers inside. There is no easy
way to determine which one is carrying which part of the data.
Therefore you'll need to place a fiber tap in all 50 fibers. That
will require a $5,000 fusion splicer and a mess of 3M fiber splices at
about $10/ea. The taps are something like this:
http://www.lan-wan-tap.com/Products/...iber_taps.html
and cost about $200/port times 50 ports. Some care should be taken as
to the outage time as most fiber links are carefully monitored for
changes in signal level and outages.

The internet data is probably part of the SONET/SDH network as IP over
ATM or SONET. You'll therefore need an ATM switch. I'm not very well
versed on current telco technology and can't offer specific equipment
recommendations for this part. I do know such boxes are not cheap.

Even with the proper equipment, you'll probably need figure out which
of the 50 fibers carries which part of the data. However, eventually
you'll get it sorted out and find yourself receiving aggregate data at
perhaps several hundred megabits/sec.

Data connections are normally first registered with the SS7 signalling
system for billing purposes. Basically, nothing goes in or out
without the billing systems involvement. You'll therefore have to
spoof the cell sites terminal hardware in order to send or receive
data. By spoofing the cellular terminal, you can setup or bread down
data connections at will. That's your internet connection.

So, armed with nothing more than a huge bank balance, arcane telco
network knowledge, manuals for everything inside the cell site, some
old issues of 2600 magazine describing the SS7 system, and several
years of spare time, you can successfully tap a cell site fiber cable.

Good luck.
--
Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
831.336.2558 voice
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann
[email protected] [email protected]

"John Navas" wrote in message

> >Would it be better to splice
> >into the fiber optic cable?
>
> That'a a joke, right?
>
> >What would that cable contain? Are there other forums that would have
> >more info?
>
> alt.prison

LOL -- that was good.

Yep. That fiber contains green light. Cut it and a bunch of pretty lights
turn red.

(While in the military, that was the answer I gave to some civil engineers,
at the "ready" in their bulldozers, after being asked if one of our fiber
cables was "anything important". Over in the desert those guys could always
be counted on for tearing up cable.)

"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
>
> In <[email protected]> on 19 Oct 2005
> 15:02:03 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>
>>I hope this is the right forum for this.
>
> alt.cellular.cingular would be more appropriate.
>
>>I live about 100 feet from a SBC cell tower.
>
> Presumably Cingular.
>
>> The tower is about
>>120 ft high. I have observed three types of lines going into the
>>building complex/power station. One it a regular voltage power line.
>>Second, is a regular phone line, that I suppose techs use to contact
>>home office. Third is a fiber optics line.
>>
>>I was wondering is there anything I could tap into as far as either
>>getting Internet access? Would I still need an antenna for
>>picking up transmissions from the tower?
>
> You need a Cingular wireless device and data plan.
>
>>Would it be better to splice
>>into the fiber optic cable?
>
> That'a a joke, right?
>
>>What would that cable contain? Are there other forums that would have
>>more info?
>
> alt.prison
>

I guess this proves that there is a huge difference between a hacker and a
hack...

Mark