Openmoko GTA06

Michael Spacefalcon msokolov at ivan.Harhan.ORG
Fri Apr 11 23:41:44 CEST 2014


Norayr Chilingarian <norayr at arnet.am> wrote:

> Yes, probably because they have this "call" and "sms" possibility.

Of course they (the carriers) provide call and SMS capabilities,
because I, their customer, want these capabilities, and would not be
their customer if they didn't provide such!

> But I 
> am quite sure, in your part of the world they must have possibility to 
> get a plan, where "calls" and "texts" are prohibited,

Of course you can block whatever you don't like.  But giving up these
services would not save you any money, because they are already
*given away for free*, for zero extra cost.

> but Internet is 
> unlimited, and just pay for it monthly fee.

Yes, the carrier I use (310260) offers unlimited Internet too.  But
unlimited voice & SMS is cheaper, and far more useful to me.

> Then, if their friends know how to use Internet for "calls" and "texts" 

No thanks, I want no part of that.  The quality of a voice "connection"
over bufferbloated mobile data networks is shit (latency in seconds) -
I am much, much happier with traditional circuit-switched phone calls.

> they can refuse from using "phones"  as devices,

I don't have much more to say to you except that we shall fight on
opposite sides.  I *like* using a traditional phone for traditional
phone calls, and I will never give it up.

> like washing machines, 

You refuse to use a washing machine?  Do you wash your clothes by hand
in a pond or a river?  Where I live, none of the nearby natural bodies
of water is clean enough for me to consider washing my clothes there,
so I like using a washing machine.

> designed for specific tasks, in this case - calls via carriers,

Yes, and I take great pride in my work to design and build a device
that does just one thing: make voice phone calls via those carriers,
exactly the thing you are against.

> and I 
> see carriers gradually would become just an ISP's, not less and not more.

Yes, but they still provide the old-fashioned circuit-switched services
as well, and if/when they cease to provide these services, I will cease
being their customer, and will instead become my own carrier - set up
my own GSM network that provides only old-fashioned phone calls and
nothing else, *no* data services whatsoever, except for CSD.

> need to add that the other thing we need, apart from encrypted calls, 
> via gsm, as in your case, or over tcp/ip, as in my case, we need, yes, 
> possibility to change IMEI's

Joerg R. and others on this list have already explained quite well the
pointlessness of those IMEI changes when it comes to privacy.  There
is only one good reason to change one's IMEI: if some operator X blocks
your legitimate IMEI (or an entire range, like all known freeable
phones), and you really need to connect to that network, you can set
your IMEI to something that network will accept.

> and use anonymous SIM cards,

The anonymity or non-anonymity of a SIM card (i.e., whether or not you
have to show a govt-issued ID when buying or activating your SIM) is a
social problem, not one that can be solved by technical means.

VLR,
SF



More information about the community mailing list