GSM security testing: where the action is [LWN.net]

GSM security testing: where the action is

Posted Sep 27, 2010 8:50 UTC (Mon) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: GSM security testing: where the action is by rahvin
Parent article: GSM security testing: where the action is

I live in a country with $2500-$3000 nominal GDP per capita (Ukraine, if anyone is interested).

We have like 80% of coverage for the whole country, with many competing independent cell networks. I can literally travel everywhere and get a good phone signal (even in Chernobyl).

GSM security testing: where the action is

Posted Oct 7, 2010 7:46 UTC (Thu) by gat3way (guest, #47864) [Link]

Same here (Bulgaria, nominal GDP/capita ~ $6000). Our three operators have >95% coverage since at least 6-7 years ago. Also, the bills are not at all expensive for the average person (Bulgaria is EU's poorest member). They were in the end of the 90s but that was mostly due to the fact that we had just one operator then.

3G did develop practically in the last 3-4 years and it was incredibly expensive in the beginning, now you can get postpaid plans with unlimited traffic for about $15-$20/month. Lots of people switched off from ADSL to the mobile telcos in the rural areas as it costs almost the same (and the national ADSL provider is notorious for its poor support).

Yet as the nice new Android smartphones and the iphones are quite expensive here, GSM is here to stay for at least a couple of years.