Hello Jow Forums I'm doing a personal experiment to see if I can rid smartphones from my life and eventually maybe even cellphones completely. I am also trying to rid myself of Google, Android, all social media, and other companies as I see fit. My first step is to move to a truly minimalist burner phone. My basic criteria is >no wifi capability >no Android OS >operates on the highest tech network while still meeting the 2 above objectives (I'm thinking 3G is as good as it will get) Bonus objectives: >Can still get wide coverage through t-mobile >physical keyboard >durable
From my research so far it looks like older but not too outdated milspec and construction site phones are my best bet like the one pictures. Does Jow Forums have any suggestions on a phone or how to achieve this type of minimalism?
>using back-door the phone network and os Why? It's compromised on the hardware level ffs even 3g is easy to pinpoint what you do
Josiah Hill
The main thing preventing me from getting the Caterpillar phone that I pictures is I don't know how good or bad the 3G HSDPA 900 / 2100 capability on the phone will work through tmobile. I'm trying to look into how well it is still supported.
Nicholas Barnes
Well it's mostly out of autistic spite more than a desire for secrecy. I'm testing my myself at increasing levels of minimalism to start out. I'm guessing there is no network provider or hardware that isnt compromised
Jonathan Young
I have filthy rich uncle who keeps posting pictures on Facebook of his stuff with his dumb phone always visible. Like I get it you want to be seen like anticonsumerist and shite like that but... never mind I forgot what I was going to say.
Eli Gonzalez
I know the feel Just stop using it and don't go on applications/programs that suck ass I basically shitpost here exclusively on my phone it's all I use 3g for Baste
Joshua Richardson
I am not rich and I don't care about the optics of this very much. I'm actually trying to downplay it. Normies are pretty much going to consider me a freak for doing this and I want to downplay it to them so they don't assume I'm going insane or I'm some kind of criminal.
Chase Gomez
Thanks for understanding. If I cant find a phone that meets these demands then I will just have to do it your way and simply minimize the use of the phone I already have.
Yeah, sweetie you could just have some self-control instead of being a poser ;) like, uninstall facebook, disable play services, set phone to silent, no vibrate. disable data connectivity >noo i have to spend more money buy something that surely will help me take control of it! classic brainlet move, buy snake oil, spend earnings when real solution is no action
Ian Johnson
Ehh im already most of the way to what you suggest. I'm exploring my options. I want a data-less phone so i can switch to a no data plan. If I get rid of data on my smart phone then I still have to carry this giant piece of fragile glass around.
Easton Russell
>buy random $30 dumbphone from the store tada. dumbphones are basically all the same anyway, they're basically a GSM chip hooked into potato processor with a screen and input. just remember that your calls and text messages made through the phone network are logged and easily accessible interested parties. use a chinese android phone (less likely to have american/western hardware backdoors, only chinese) with an aftermarket security-focused (i.e. hardened, GNU'd, and dejewgled) operating system if you really do need ~high tech~ stuff.
Lucas Thomas
Thanks for the advice. Avoiding android and still having 3G+ has been the hardest part. Thats why I looking at weird shit like that Cat phone which seems to be basic enough to have its own OS of some kind...sort of confused by that whole bit. Your suggestion to get a chinese android phone but use a more secure OS is new to me. That could be an option. I honestly don't have any extreme need for privacy but I want it out of spite and to not contribute to being data harvested all the time. I know my calls and texts are always going to be completely vulnerable.
Jack Bennett
why do you need 3g? I thought like 99% of telcoms (at least here in europe, could be different in american given your weird fragmented patchwork communications grid) supported 2g still? I mean, it's not like you'll need the bandwidth with a dumbphone. replicant, copperheadOS, and lineage are the main freedums focused variants of android but you'll have to look into which devices they support and /csg/ will probably have advice regarding phones. if it were me I'd probably buy a xiaomi phone and install lineageos, configure it to use a vpn and install signal and tor browser alongside firefox and f-droid and then start doing some tweaking but I use a dumbphone so I don't really know what I'm talking about. good luck user, you probably already know about this website but privacytools.io is a pretty good start if you're looking into reclaiming your freedums from tech companies.
Alexander Williams
The reason I'm aiming for 3G is because here in the U.S. 2G is old and seems like the coverage is pretty scattered from what it looks like. I will be moving for work soon but I do not know where yet. tmobile supports just 1 band of 2G still, and I know they wont be adding any more coverage on top of what they have now. I expect 2G to have less and less support or maybe go away completely. If I have to change provider that wont be too big of a deal though. Anyway I have never heard of privacytool.io so I will check it out thanks. You might overestimate my knowledge, I am probably the most tech retarded person on this board at the moment. t. 30 y/o boomer
Brandon Reed
Nokia 3310 3g or 8110 4g.
Gabriel Morales
>Posting this from a phone
Dylan Green
Nokia 107 2017. No WiFi, no Bluetooth, no cameras. Alternative is waiting for Librem 5 as a main device, and the PinePhone as a burner phone if it's under $120. But, as long as you have a SIM card you're easily trackable and can be spied on via microphone. Librem 5 will have physical kill switches for cameras, microphone and networking so it's a good option imho.
Chase Robinson
I have to look into these ones still and see if they fit the bill, but they did come up on my radar. Firefox OS right? True for the time being Ok all of this sounds great
Samuel Powell
if you're willing and able you can even put together your own phone with a microcontroller like an arduino, and along with a small screen, buttons and GSM shield you can actually make a phone.
might be a bit expensive for parts though, so it's more of a way to get what you want but also while being able to put it together yourself.
Christopher Clark
and you'll look like you're carrying a bomb detonator unless you print a case, in which case you'll look like you're carrying a brick of legos
William Peterson
I see the 8110 4g comes with Google maps... That would be absolutely insane. I love it. But that would be a long term project, and I would be amazed if I could get a provider for it.
Tyler Brooks
When will anonymous comeback? When will we rise for the weak once again? We Jow Forums created anonymous when will we come back. When?
Benjamin Sullivan
NoAgenda show host Adam Curry has spent like the last 6 months trying to find the most minimal phone.
He likes the nokia e71 but that has a keypad.
Benjamin White
I seriously wonder when will Jow Forums come back I mean as much as people think that we are dumb unsophisticated losers who are obese and have no lives. we have changed the world forever hell essentially we are the most powerful people on earth if we wanted to we could hack the entire planet and get away with it or... BRING BACK ANONYMOUS. But that's just a theory or maybe it's not. Honestly I don't know what justice is anymore and maybe you guys don't know either...
Nathan Rogers
I have a punkt 2G phone and honestly I don't think they have the power turned up on 2G/3G enough to make it worth it to buy these phones
I have a preorder for the MP02 with 4G LTE but the battery life on it is shit compared to the original because it's based on Android. They're killing 2G support in 2019 though so I don't have a choice.
Dominic Campbell
I might get a refurbished one, everybody uses whatsapp here but I don't know anybody.
you don't need to print everything. contrary to what STEM numales believe you can build things and not make them out of plastic from a computer.
if OP wanted there are plenty of cases he could put the components into. and even if he were to print out a case he could make it not look autistic.
>and I would be amazed if I could get a provider for it don't take my word for it but from what I've seen online I believe you can just purchase a prepaid SIM card from a provider, and put that into the GSM shield and it should work.
Oliver Thomas
Wednesday actually
Dylan Gray
>that 20 year old neckbeard who whittled a phone case out of wood my point being DIY phones aren't going to look very a e s t h e t i c unless you put a stupid amount of effort into it I had one of these in middle school. shit was cash.
Kayden Price
been using numberphones since forever
bought a nokia 130 few years ago, amazing battery but the downside is it does not show a name of the caller if you have saved a number 75757575 and the caller has +6675757575, vice versa,
the speaker died so now i have 3310(2017), the battery is 2x worse, but otherwise its a fine phone
aliexpress nokia 1100 would be the best choice in my opinion, battery is amazing and you only get calls/sms, flashlight and some other features.
Jose Rodriguez
yeah I'm pretty sure it's wednesday
Gavin Young
Lots of people vouching for older basic nokias here, some of which are no android and no wifi. At that point it is just a matter of which bands it operates on to see if it will work on whatever network you want to use. If I can find an unlocked one that operates on more 3G/4G bands then the Cat B30 phone I posted then thats a win. As for building your own and using a prepaid sim card... someone care to elaborate on the first steps? Above user listed some necessary parts like a microcontroller, screen, and GSM shield (none of which I am familiar with).
Benjamin Sanchez
You are retarded. A dumbphone is barely more privacy respecting than a smartphone.
Alexander Morgan
Once again my number 1 goal is not privacy but to become more minimalist in the tech I use and to autistically spite Google, Android and possibly other companies. I just don't want to feel I need them, and I need to take the minimalism in baby steps.
Jackson Martin
alumni.media.mit.edu/~mellis/cellphone/index.html is an example. you'd probably have a lot of difficulty making one from scratch (i.e. not following a guide) if you're not familiar with the basics of electrical engineering and embedded software development
Austin Nguyen
Is there any dumb phone that doubles as a mp3 player and calendar?
I don't need much more than that
Xavier Morgan
>burner phone >literally buys it on largest online retailer website
>wants to get off the botnet >gets rid of its perks but stays connected are you fucking stupid?
>I'm guessing there is no network provider or hardware that isnt compromised The entire protocol stack is compromised. The moment your device connects to a base station, the device is no longer under your control.
David Carter
Librem 5 solves very little. Sure, you have the kill switches, but you could do that with a dumbphone by soldering off the integrated mic. The problem is that all your subscriber info still remains compromised as does all normal call and sms data. There is no way to secure of any of that using conventional methods.
Michael Davis
yeah it'll definitely look hacked together. if you're good you could make it look pretty cool.
Alexander James
Look up wiphone, it's also open source.
Mason Phillips
Yes im stupid as fuck on this topic that's why I'm here, also there is probably lurkers wanting to know the same things. Could you explain how the botnet would access and use simply my call and SMS info besides just knowing my location?
Adrian Turner
Ok thanks. Also I will compile the suggestions in this thread to re-post if I see anyone ask a similar thing in another thread
Camden Diaz
So what difference is this compared to just keeping a smartphone and not using social media?
David Flores
The protocol stack that governs how base stations service providers communicate with one another is called SS7. It was designed with the retarded premise that anyone who has access to it (read: is at least a pseudo-operator) should be trusted. Therefore anyone with such access can remotely >start silent calls with any phone connected to the network to any given number >redirect requested calls to any given number >edit your subscriber info like phone number, subscription type and whatever >close your subscription >track your movements in real-time not only through GPS but the baseband signal as well The metadata from the calls, location and SMS obviously reveal a fuck-ton about you and your daily habits. For more info, check this >youtube.com/watch?v=-wu_pO5Z7Pk
Brody Stewart
>classic brainlet move, buy snake oil, spend earnings when real solution is no action This OP is a retard You're going to spend 84.99 for a "dumb phone" (lol) when you could buy a $20 android and use it as a dumb phone with more or less the same security implications You're just one of these dumb >I wanna look like a cool manly luddite without actually missing on the benefits of technology hipster. gtfo
Well to simply make things easier by just eliminating the option. Also this android smartphone im on is full of fucking samsung and google bloatware that I figure I should just go hard mode and get rid of android and data completly. I get it this a semi-retarded idea, but I'm interested in the principle of it and for the sake of minimalism.
You're a hipster looking into spending money to look counterculture without actually being any kind of revolutionary Now that I think about it, that's kinda boomerish, so I'll give you that
>desperate to be unique >want to emulate counterculture without actually adopting anything that comes along with it It's like joining the chess club for the status.
Levi Collins
This is actually exactly what I was looking to learn thanks. You're right that I could go cheaper if I would just except the use of android, but part of this thought experiment was avoiding android. Who said I gave a shit about doing anything revolutionary or the optics of using a dumb phone.
Lucas Jones
You can buy a $10 tracfone flip phone right now with 4g. Can't get much more basictbh