Transmission1

Not sure who else has heard of this yet, it seems pretty new. It's basically a phone that is adapted for PTT over IP use. Has a dedicated PTT button, a larger than normal antenna, louder speker than most normal smartphones, and a small touch screen. Can work on zello, Grouptalk, and I assume other PTT apps too.
They are selling them for £185 at http://www.broadnet.systems/
There are a few videos on youtube too.
I like the look of these. ROIP in a nice package. I bet the emergency services will be using something like this one their new system is up, except it will be on LTE rather than 3G.
Discuss...

nokiaman2002 on youtube has a video on one of these

https://www.youtube.com/user/nokiaman2002/videos

They do look prety cool.

Yeah, I mentioned that there are a few videos of it on my original post

Broadnet Systems are re-selling a Chinese smartphone, albeit a rather cool smartphone (depending on your point of view).
The handset says "Sure" on the front. Who are "Sure" and how can we obtain these handsets without lining the pocket of a distributor?

Anyone else able to find anything? I can't see any reference to them on the net.

I WILL obtain at least one of these handsets.
I WILL be conducting linking experiments / teardown / spectrum analysis / EMC (conducted, radiated, immunity).

TRON wrote:Broadnet Systems are re-selling a Chinese smartphone, albeit a rather cool smartphone (depending on your point of view).
The handset says "Sure" on the front. Who are "Sure" and how can we obtain these handsets without lining the pocket of a distributor?

Anyone else able to find anything? I can't see any reference to them on the net.

I WILL obtain at least one of these handsets.
I WILL be conducting linking experiments / teardown / spectrum analysis / EMC (conducted, radiated, immunity).

Yes I noticed that too.
Here is a link to the original product they are selling:
http://goo.gl/LHKqDg
You have to make an account and ask for a quote if you want to order them, I couldn't be bothered because you probably have to order in large numbers, so just left it, but if you want to try, there it is.
Would you tell us how much they actually go for if you find out?

Excellent.. Good bit of intel there.

I have sent them an email through my work email address.
If they reply, and the price isn't ridiculous, would anyone be interested in a group buy?
I work for a small manufacturing company, and my boss likes to see people "getting involved". It won't be the first time that she (the company owner) has given an employee an interest free loan so that they can bulk buy a product and then market it through our website.
The idea is NOT to make a profit, as our core activities do that. The idea of her doing this is getting people used to keeping their finger on the pulse with changing products, spotting winners, making deals with suppliers, importing restrictions, getting samples, conducting compliance tests (CE marking etc), marketing and customer service.
Its like self inflicted training.

I have a feeling that she'll like these handsets as she has been complaining about having to phone multiple people at our factory to tell them all the same message over and over and over again.

Ah I just saw the minimum order is 1000 units... Apparently. They would probably go down though if you asked. I doubt broadcomm has the kind of capital to buy 1000 of them at a time, judging by their website.
I would definitely be interested in buying 2 if you can get them at a good price.

Broadcomm is just a guy that has set up a website.

Lets see what we can dig up. As new facts are added, I will edit this post to reflect current intelligence.

The handset is sold through this website: http://www.broadnet.systems/shop/
Scroll to the bottom, and you get the following address:

BroadNet Communications Systems
Purbeck House
Dorset Gardens
Brighton
BN2 1SA
+44 (0)1273 906 406

Lets see what we get with "Purbeck House"
Google shows this: http://www.housingcare.org/housing-care ... gland.aspx
Managers description:
"Although there is no lower age limit for residents at Purbeck House, most residents living there are elderly people."
It is a care home.

Can anybody do anything with phone numbers? I couldn't find any results.

Google: BroadNet Communications Systems
Second page of results shows this little gem: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binari ... ection.pdf

It makes mention of Broadnet UK Limited registered company 04055730.

Lets see what 04055730 shows: http://companycheck.co.uk/company/04055 ... ecretaries

Ah.. Broadnet UK Ltd (Dissolved).

Director: http://companycheck.co.uk/director/908515956


Thats enough for now. I have to go and tidy up the mess that Transco left when they re-installed mains gas and power to my sisters new house (200 years old).

I look forward to comments, criticisms and additions.

Remember, we are meant to be talking about the radio here, not stalking the company owner!
No matter who it is, they are probably just trying to make money, as any business does.
It's better for people like us, who know about communications, to get it directly from source, instead of going through a business and paying them extra for the pleasure, but I don't see anything wrong with whatever the business owner is doing.
He has done us the favor of alerting us to the existence of this product. Now we can go and buy it for much less than he sells it for hopefully.

No. It is not like a product or subject matter expert has decided to set up business doing something they are good at. This looks like a box shifter. Have you seen his youtube vids?
He has dissolved 17 companies in the last few years.

What happens when your £185 Chinese smartphone dies after 3 months, and when you ring the number on his website, all you get is "Sorry, the number you have dialed has not been recognised".

I think, that when you part with anything over £20, you should KNOW about the person it is going to.

He has now upped the price to £222
http://www.broadnet.systems/shop/
It is for this reason that I will make it a personal LIFE MISSION to obtain some of these in bulk.

I liked the look of these too! I bet if you do some digging you'll find them on some obscure chinese online store for £99 lol

DistantSignal wrote:I liked the look of these too! I bet if you do some digging you'll find them on some obscure chinese online store for £99 lol

Exactly.
Kindly,

radiosification wrote:

has found the manufacturer in China and I have sent them an email asking for prices. If we deal with the manufacturer direct, we should also be able to get the firmware updates etc.

Also notice that the case it is built into has a side accessory connector and a rear antenna socket, neither of which are mentioned by Br04dn3t.
Side connector = access to PTT, speaker and microphone lines for interconection to other systems.
Rear antenna socket implies cradle = car / building antenna for better signal, charging, car handsfree kit etc etc.

TRON wrote:He has now upped the price to £222
http://www.broadnet.systems/shop/
It is for this reason that I will make it a personal LIFE MISSION to obtain some of these in bulk.

I posted something earlier in response to this but cannot see it now. It was on my phone, I may have forgotten to send it after I previewed it. Here is a second try at a response:

That's a bit steep. To be honest I agree with you now. Someone importing a cheap product and adding a massive markup deserve to be looked in to and publicly shamed online if they are just ripping people off. Definitely let me know if you manage to get a price and get some imported. I would like to have 2 of these devices to test out, but no way would I pay £185 or £222 for what is essentially a chinese 3G android phone.

Also I would like to make a video about the company (which will probably come up on the first page of search results for them), talking about how they are ripping people off so that nobody else falls for it. (only if that actually is the case).
In fact, I just looked, and if you look up broadnet systems bn01 on google, this thread is already the third result.