Yes, the Wireless Application Protocol! What other WAP could there possibly be? This long-dormant cellphone standard is now once again available on the web, thanks to [Sean] over at ActionRetro modifying his FrogFind portal as a translation engine. Now any web site can be shoved through the WAP!
WAP was rolled out in 1999 as HTML for phones without the bandwidth to handle actual HTML. The idea of a “mobile” and a “desktop” site accessed via HTTP hadn’t yet been conceived, you see, so phoning into sites with WAP would produce a super-stripped down, paginated, text-only version of the page. Now FrogFind has a WAP version that does the same thing to any site, just as the HTTP (no S!) FrogFind translates the modern web into pure HTML vintage browsers can read.
Of course you’ll need a phone that can connect to FrogFind with a WAP browser, which for many of us, may be… difficult. This protocol didn’t last much longer than PETS.COM, so access is probably going to be over 2G. With 2G sunset already passed in many areas, that can be a problem for vintage computer enthusiasts who want to use vintage phone hardware. [Sean] does not have an answer — indeed, he’s actively searching for one. His fans have pointed out a few models of handsets that should be able to access WAP via WiFi, but that leaves a lot of retro hardware out in the cold. If you have a good idea for a 2G bridge that can get out to the modern web and not attract the angry attention of the FTC (or its local equivalent), fans of ActionRetro would love to hear it — and so would we!
Vintage phone hacks don’t show up often on Hackaday, and when they do, it’s either much older machines or upgrading to USB-C, not to modern communications protocols. We haven’t seen someone hacking in the WAP since 2008. Given the collective brainpower of the Hackaday commentariat, someone probably has an idea to let everyone dive right into the WAP. Fight it out in the comments, or send us a tip if you have link to a howto.
Oh my the title, lol.
I haven’t seen any activity around emulating 2G, unfortunately. I’m guessing it would be a bit of effort and also require running it in extremely low power or in an anechoic chamber to not run afoul of the FCC. Is GSM still allocated for cellular or has it been split into other uses?
When you’re a star, they let you do it.
I believe most of this sort of stuff falls into “what are you a cop?” territory. You can do whatever you want using this method, as long as you keep the power low enough to not be detectable outside of your property (which is hard to estimate even in theory to be fair). Of course, the phones transmitting back at full power might be somewhat of a giveaway.
The most official answer is to remove the phone antenna and connect it to your equipment with coax and attenuators.
The phone transmit power is controlled by the base station, but “not detectable outside your property” is a tough one, unless you own a lot of land.
2G isn’t dead yet, at least in Finland and Sweden. They found so many M2M, home automation and other systems using 2G that they have staved off the shutdown. 3G/WCDMA has gone though.
Interestingly, in the Netherlands some providers kept 2G and shut off 3G while others did the inverse.
That’s logical, because 2G is the lowest common denominator.
It’s the foundation, the basis, so to say.
By keeping it, all but the newest standard(s) can be dropped over time for sake of progress, without rendering existing hardware completely obsolete.
That’s important if you want to build an infrastructure that lasts.
Also, most modern cellphone towers probably do have SDR and DSP technology and are flexible.
There’s no loss in keeping 2G alive, no separate 2G towers must be keept around for that purpose.
Pretty much the same in the Netherlands. Though, working at a company that builds IoT devices that communicate over 2G / 4G, the coverage and bandwidth for 2G is not what it used to be..
2G is alive Germany, too. GSM on 900 MHz is a classic.
And it’s still useful for M2M/embedded applications.
For setting up a 2G GSM network have a look at https://osmocom.org
I’m pretty sure the Federal Trade Commission wouldn’t have much to say about people running their own 2G networks. Did you mean FCC, Tyler?
FYI, even if HaD aren’t actively looking for editors, I’d be happy to volunteer as a proofreader. I have a decent about of experience in that regard. I have experience sweeping certain emulators’ release notes and announcement posts for both typos and a bit of punch-up, and given the frequency of posts on HaD, it’s something I could do for free over my morning coffee.
“I have a decent about of experience in that regard.”
WTF detected.
Well you can run 2g if you have a amateur radio license
Low power and every 10 min you’ll have to broadcast the call sign basically as plaintext over the 2g lan
Interesting. Do you have a source to this rule?
In the USA cell band fall between 33 and 23 cm
And you get experimental access to 2.3-2.4 ghz 3ghz, 5ghz, 10, 25, 47,70-80,120, 130-140, 240-250, and any rf frequency above 275 ghz
So 802.11 wifi and 5g wifi, radar frequency etc
In the USA atleast
https://www.arrl.org/images/view//Charts/Band_Chart_Image_for_ARRL_Web.jpg
73 de w4tia
But you can’t do radar and pulse transmission on 10. -10.5 ghz
Cuz radar interference
Well u learnt what band the police radar is likely using and how to defeat it
Next time you see them Police speed radar
Just put a directional antenna and pulse it,
9999 mph
Go ahead pull over and write a ticket😂
Gonna have to prove it in court
I’m not aware of any overlap between the classic 2g bands and ham bands, unless the US 33cm band overlaps the European GSM 900 MHz band.
Looks like the 900 MHz GSM band has uplink and downlink channels that fall in the 902-928 ISM/ham band, but there are no standard pairings that have both in that band.
Within 33 and 23 cm
For that matter 3g and 4g also fall within amateur radio bands even 5g according to the band plan
Between 600mhz and 24ghz depends on which variants
I vaguely remember that there used to be desktop WAP browsers and that there used to be plug-ins for Firefox.
But that was 20 years ago on Windows 98SE..
WAP is still there. Needed to support MMS messaging. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Application_Protocol#MMS )
I think the launching of weblinks is still present as well, for the carrier, so they could nag you to pay your bill.