But - it's not easy! Here is a strategy that I think would work, but I'm struggling to find an appropriate device.
- Mobile phone WITHOUT a sim card (wifi only)
- VPN router, using coreboot, Intel Management Engine disabled
- Dongle with 3g using an unregistered sim card
- Power Supply / Battery
Yes it would be a pain to carry round, but as this becomes the standard, devices that combine a PSU, VPN, Coreboot, and Mobile connectivity (e-sim) would hopefully become generally available.
Also, if you are a family or a group, moving in proximity, only one of you would need to carry the device(s)..
don't you wish the pinephone or fairphone were working on this kind of thing?
I think there'd be a huge market for a pocket-sized, all-in-one, open-source, PSU / Dongle / VPN / Router device
Imagine if you could even supply anonymous mobile internet to people around you on a sats/per/minute basis!
this https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-e750/
It does look great, and has fairly good reviews, but no esim (so can't support silent.link)
That said, you can just use PAYG sims and the VPN
Doesn't subscribing to 3g mean you are assigned a mobile number, whether or not you use it with a device that has voice/text?
The silent.link e-sim come without voice or sms (which is ideal)
Finding a decent e-sim dongle appears to be a challenge though.
self-plug: you can use sms4sats.com for 1-time sms activation codes to avoid over sharing your own phone number, potentially reduce spam.
It does look great, I wish it were possible to rent permanent online numbers for receiving SMS though (ie, on an annual or monthly basis)
I'd happily pay $15/20 per month for that (just to receive SMS, nothing else)
Good feedback, we have 4-hour rentals, will look into enabling longer periods of time.
Did you check out the silent.link Citidel Dispatch episode? Its an interview with a guy that sells nonKYC sims and E-sims and talks about mobile privacy. Its Episode 77.
view on youtu.beListening for the first time, thankyou!
To make this work.. Need to find a dongle (mifi) that accepts e-sim.
Using this service directly on your actual mobile will still reveal specifics about your handset.
Silent-link on mifi -> VPN router -> Personal Devices
A privacy focused phone with btc first features would sell like hotcakes. Everyone in this space would have one. Or two.