I am experimenting with a recently activated giveaway AT&T MicroCell.  The box has a programmable capability for 10 cell phones.  The first thing I did was to try the device through 2 meshed nodes with one node connected to my DSL internet.  This setup worked in my ham man cave and I began thinking.  As a small town EMC, I have had experience with landline/cellular disruptions.  Why not consider a setup like this for emergency operations?  I do not know how far the cellular signal will go because the local cell towers limit the range of the MicroCell.  Any comments or knowledge of my experiment?  There is no charge by AT&T for the use of the MicroCell.  A few operable cell phones within an emergency operations center might be valuable in a local communications failure.

An interesting idea.  It seems to me though that you would be counting on a significant amount of infrastructure to remain operational:

• Internet access within the Mesh - I don't think the micro nodes are smart enough to route calls between connected phones, so you need to get their data back to the cell service provider.  Presumably you could do this through a satellite-based Internet service.
• Cell Service Provider - the service provider’s switching center needs to have survived the disaster.  Perhaps this isn’t a stretch to assume… but it’s not a certainty.

I have recently read of a new cell phone network messaging protocol called Proximity Services, or LTE Direct.  It utilizes a mesh-like technique using cell phones as the nodes.  It may be quite useful in emergencies.  Qualcomm appears to be promoting it.  More info can be found at: http://www.qualcomm.com/solutions/wireless-networks/technologies/lte/lte-direct .

Andre, K6AH

I have to admit I looked into this idea once myself.

I do events out in the mountains where cell coverage can some times be non existent.  I've had times where I have had the only working phone at the event.

I suspect the core system would be online at the phone company because it is most likely at redundant datacenter's, the question is how much of this gear must speak to local towers to work (that may be an internal requirement for them to 'light up' your microcell)

The other problem comes from: http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB110286&cv=820#fbid=8bWb8XSUyHK

Which makes note of HTTP over a TLS/SSL connection and an IPSEC connection (Both are encryption)  You would need to evaluate if that is permissible or not under part 97 for yourself.

After that for a real disaster Department of Homeland Security Standard Operating Procedure 303 comes into play (Its still in the appeals process -- the only part known about it is ""Purpose. This SOP provides detailed procedures fort the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC) to coordinate requests for the disruption of cellular service." This would likely apply to Micro/Pico/Fempto Cell sites as well.

What would trigger this shutdown is unknown. It may or may not have been initiated after the Boston marathon.  I doubt it would trigger for a major flooding incident, but if looting occurred and control was lost would that qualify? We don't know until the court case settles to see if the full procedure is released or not.

A small scale of this occurred when the Bay Area Rapid Transit system turned off their own repeaters inside the tunnel which triggered an FCC comment period in 2012.  This wouldn't affect a microcell as it was only BART gear that was turned off, but it does show it has been considered as an option to control in the past.

I am currently thinking of going with a SIP setup, and bringing some 'cheap' WIFI sip phones with me and just use them as handouts.  Paired with an Asterisks server it could be used through the entire local area, and I could work on interfacing either an internet SIP uplink or a cellular POTS converter uplink to allow dial out service  (I'm looking at a cell antenna at the top of the tower trailer)

Possibly I might see if any sip client I can setup on phones 'on site' with a QR code or similar but I think just preparing with phones and handing them out might be the easiest (for me).

The odds are in my estimation a reputable SIP Trunk provider will be online after a disaster and as long as you can get some internet you can route from local. They even make SIP to POTS converters so you could actually feed into a buildings POTS feed, in theory you could  run a CAT5 from a node, down to the PBX of the room, and feed in X number of lines to the PBX so that the entire building still has phone access (albeit not at their normal phone number and fewer lines at once likely).

Biggest issue is having that 'local' internet to get out of the area in the first place.