So in all cases the US is surveying everyone if you are in the US. What happens if you are outside the US? E.i. if you have a BM does that mean you are protected against US/EU spying if you are not in their area? What I didn’t know was that the country of production implies that that country is surveying you (wherever you are?).
The comment wasn’t intended to be taken 100% seriously. Most people would look at supported bands and supported functionality and performance before worrying about potential for surveillance.
More and more countries are passing laws that mean that country of production implies the potential for that country to surveil you no matter where you are.
More and more countries are passing laws that mean that country of location implies the potential for that country to surveil you no matter where you came from.
Regardless, a mobile phone is horrible technology if you totally want to drop off the grid.
what Snowden was talking about in his book about what NSA is doing is a lil’ more than surveillance capitalism …
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Another question that hasn’t been answered yet:
will the Gemalto really cost us extra, and, if so, how much?
Yes. (Is someone remember where is the official announcement?)
We don’t know.
No news yet…
TBD = to be determined
From Librem 5 Shop Page:
Baseband : Option 1: Broadmobi BM818 (default); Option 2: Gemalto PLS8 (additional surcharge TBD); w/ single nanosim tray on replaceable M.2 card
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Thanks for all the replies, people. But I was hoping for answers from Purism.
I am having a hard time deciding what modem to go for, because I do not have all the needed information.
Now would be a great moment for Purism to tell us more…
As I recall last chance to order production of some particular module under Gemalto name was on 14.06.2019. Anyway, I noticed (more than several months ago) that this post uses official names for both variants of Thales’s Cinterion® PLS8 wireless M2M module:
P.S. Just to be correct, with this post of mine I’m not helping much myself either, but agreement over official module(s) name would sound as at least some kind of progress, IMHO.
A bit of tech info that I came across: This document seems to show some AT commands for BM818
https://fccid.io/2AON8-BM818/Users-Manual/BM818-Coperation-manual-V1-4-4107101
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Is that Gemalto modem really going to be an option for Evergreen? The phone is shipping soon, and I don’t see any indication that PLS8 is a real option for it - except in obsolete(?) Purism web pages.
So, what’s the plan? Why are people still talking about PLS8?
EDIT: ok, the modem is part of Librem 5 USA with shipping at the end of the year. So, at least is not just on paper…
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One thing to consider is, it seems PLS8 verifiably has VolTE voice ability, which may become important in the future (especially in the US it seems, possibly in other countries as well - partly connected to shutting down 2G/3G networks). Also see the FAQ.
This goes to all of northern part of Europe: Finland, Norway, Sweden, Island, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and more (including Russia). Your preferred modem is either one of the “European” options (BM818-E1 / PLS8-E) unless you have some specific needs due to travel.
Didn’t check all others but expect a good coverage elsewhere in Europe too. This recommendation is based on the presense B20, which is used by most operators in these countries. Only in Sweden only one operator (3 - according to https://www.frequencycheck.com) using also B38, which is only in BM818.
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