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Can the number be used for verifying accounts like google or apple store?
I know its counter intuitive to privacy. but wanted to ask. -
Is the sim transferable to other phone brands?
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What makes the sim more secure vs other sims or services other than registration in name of the company?
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Yes, if you’ve listed the number in your accounts. It’s a mobile phone number like any other mobile number.
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Yes, if you have a phone that is authorized by the underlying carrier as being compatible with their network. If the new phone is not compatible with the network, then the SIM will not work in the new phone.
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The SIM is not more secure than other carriers’ SIMs, only more private, as Purism doesn’t provide your personal contact information or identity to the underlying network.
Note that Purism’s SIM service is not functioning at the moment. Read: SIMple/AweSIM down
Note also that VoLTE (Voice over LTE Data) is not enabled by default yet (at least in the North American variant of the modem), as Purism is still working out some issues. You can enable it manually, but it might be buggy at the moment.
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What @amarok said. Prior to the outage, the AweSIM service worked well for me, but the outage itself has proven quite extensive with no definitive timeline on the restoration of services. The added privacy creates an extra middle man (you - Purism - MVNO - Carrier) which (as proven in this case) allows for more things to go wrong.
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Is the outage still ongoing?
As far as I’m aware. At least, I’ve heard no announcements to the contrary. I ended up canceling and switching carriers because the outage lasted too long. I’m not sure if I’m still gonna get email updates now.
That sucks. I hope it gets resolved soon and Purism is able to find a reliable and trustworthy partner.
It would be better if Purism became their own MVNO (which is what I originally thought was the case) IMO the notion of an “unknown partner” doesn’t jive well with the whole open-source transparency concept of Purism
I take your point but I think it has to be accepted that the entire mobile network (including of course the modem) is closed and untrusted. Purism is never going to be the MNO, so there is always going to be that limitation anyway. Does the MVNO add an additional source of distrust? Yes.
It could also be that the “unknown partner” becomes a “known partner” once that partnership is up and running, which evidently it isn’t (fully?) yet.
Your right, and maybe the open source comparison is an inaccurate one. I think for me, the bigger issue is the reliability on the service. If you purchase cell service from one of the big carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) you have a direct relationship with the service and need only trust that Carrier’s coverage and reputation. When you purchase an MVNO (Puretalk, Mint Mobile), now you have to trust the carrier + the MVNO’s reliability and relationship with the carrier. Not hard to do because many MVNOs have well established reputations.
With Purism, there are more unknowns, you are now trusting Purism’s relationship with an unknown company, that companies unknown reputation, and that unknown companies unknown relationship with the carrier. Granted, if Purism was their own MVNO, they would still have an unknown reputation as a new MVNO, but at least they could build on it by providing reliable service.
What’s funny is I never would have cared about any of the above if it wasn’t for the outage. If you would told me during the summer, I would have shrugged it off because the service, however provided, simply worked. Now Purism has a hill to climb to restore their reputation after leaving customers high and dry for months with no service.
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I dont have the service. When did the outage happen?
Curious on more details of the date and time of the outage and what happened? How ling etc.
long sorry*
Refer SIMple/AweSIM down for the whole saga. Apparently it was restored some weeks ago and is again working.
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