when a cell signal reaches a tower, does it pass through the regular internet ie USA

[ocean]

HI folks, I have question, I saw a cell tower worker working on a cell tower base station, I noted a lot of RJ-45 Ethernet cables , and switches/routers etc. My question is, after a signal reaches a cell tower, does it backhaul pass through the normal internet? Moreover, does the voice data get boomeranged or passed through the USA , IE all of our conversations get scooped up ?

Someone with a bit of IT/ telecom engineering knowledge please respond.

Thanks.

 

[charmer_]

I'd say no because it's not VoIP (it's just a regular mobile call). If you're talking through something like Skype, then yeah.

 

[jalimon]

I'd say no because it's not VoIP (it's just a regular call). If you're talking through something like Skype, then yeah.

But then everything nowadays goes under SSL so it's crypted right?

Cheers,

 

[ocean]

But then everything nowadays goes under SSL so it's crypted right?

Cheers,

No, 3G, connections for voice, use GSM A5/A6 encryption from teh phone to the tower, for 4G meaning LTE ie VoLTE , it has some weird encryption which has been broken, but I am talking about what happens after it reaches the cell tower. Does it go by optical data line over teh regular internet?

 

[heliragedeleted]

This is the simple answer from an engineer I know working at bell cell:
With VoLTE there's no difference between "internet data" and "voice" anymore; it's all IP.

 

[ocean]

This is the simple answer from an engineer I know working at bell cell:
With VoLTE there's no difference between "internet data" and "voice" anymore; it's all IP.

Apparently, thats teh problem, once its an ip packet, does it get bounced around the normal internet, IE bounced through the USA , where its collected by NSA? . Can you ask your engineer friend this. What route does the BACKHAUL take --is it an all Canadian route? Is the backhaul passed over the normal internet ie boomeranged through the US for interception of voice data?

Related to this thread. : https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/30/canadians-internet-traffic-at-risk.html

The implication of this thread being that when you make a local phone call over your cell or is it being dragnet recorded by the US because Rogers/Bell/Telus is too lazy to use an All Canadian network ?


Also geeky but of note, : VoLTE , take voice ip packets, and passes them over an IMS (integrated media server) , using an SIP server and RTP packets. These SIP server's RTP packets all seem to use local ip adresses ie 192.168..... or 10.0.0.1, etc. according to whitehat hackers.

 

[jalimon]

because Rogers/Bell/Telus is too lazy to use an All Canadian network ?

It's not a question of laziness. That's the way the Internet was built. Packets take any route to regroup at some point. The idea was that no complete communication could be intercepted because the whole message is sent in packets via many different routes. Of course things have evolved but the main idea still is place and as far as I know there is no all canadian network.

Cheers,

 

[ocean]

So when we make Canadian phone calls it's being intercepted by the us ?

 

[Dick Hardwood]

American LE can not access Canadian cell into without the help of Canadian LE and/or the Canadian Telco.

 

[ocean]

American LE can not access Canadian cell into without the help of Canadian LE and/or the Canadian Telco.

And yet NSA is doing this all the time.

 

[jalimon]

American LE can not access Canadian cell into without the help of Canadian LE and/or the Canadian Telco.

They may only need the help of US switches providers? Probably why the USA has put a ban on chinese Huawei switches ?

Cheers,

 

[heliragedeleted]

So when we make Canadian phone calls it's being intercepted by the us ?

Just remember that the nsa was monitoring all calls made by Angela Merkel made through her cell.......

 

[ocean]

Just remember that the nsa was monitoring all calls made by Angela Merkel made through her cell.......

I think that was because they had a giant Stingray device in the American Embassy in Berlin. In response teh German government ordered 20 000 Blackberries.


What I am a talking about is when we mak ea local call on our cell, over 3g/ VoLTe, it is treated like ip data over the backhaul. Talking to to others, this is harder to decipher but really it goes through 3 ways.

1. microwave to microwave transmission from tower to tower to a Canadian data line.
2. tower to fiber optic line.
3. This one is a little tricky cell site on a building .......... uses someone else's data line like Bell . IF on the back end of a downtown bulding they must have to use Bell copper phone lines .

So the answer in part is that they use the regular internet with an ip sec connection to their EPC switching center, or they have their own fiber optic , but does any of this pass through the USA ...... that is unknown.

 

[heliragedeleted]

Ok, that explains it. But I would’nt be surprised if they had their hooks into the canadian ip backbones and are constantly monitoring all traffic. I’m sure that the canadian gouvernements collaborated to make that possible. Then there are all the satellite channels. My bell cell engineer was pretty coy when I asked him about the usually traffic pathways and he finally answered that the canadian and us traffic is integrated. Whatever that means.....