Email sent. Let’s see what comes back. I hope it’s positive news.
I just looked online and it said Australia networks are GSM so the librem 5 will work there.
@Brad i can reply here the same i replied to the email you sent.
"At this moment all i can confirm is that we are working on that. But
sadly i cannot provide an ETA at this point.
But in the moment we have confirmation that we can support/provide the T1 that
information will be added."
6 Likes
Thank you so much for your reply Joao.
Its great to know that it is in hand and is a live inquiry on your part.
Hopefully we get news soon 
3 Likes
I’m a bit late to the thread but I too am interested in the Librem 5 and being an aussie, and like the OP I use Telstra’s infrastructure.
@joao.azevedo a friendly suggestion if I may - depending on how many orders you have/will fulfil with the (hopeful possible) usage of the T1 variant you might want to reach out to retailers in Australia to resell the Librem 5 T1. ~$1000AUD these days is the going standard price for a new mobile phone.
1 Like
+2 for Australia here - coverage is important though…I spend time in remote regions. All my oil&gas brethern will probably buy them too if I can show one working!
3 Likes
Yeah I know what the coverage is like is rural aussie. Telstra (NextG) is the only real coverage unfortunatley. Which means the need for the Librem 5 T1 otherwise it will be just as useful as tits on a bull.
1 Like
Apparently something have changed… I just got an answer from Purism support saying that they don’t have plan to offering the T1 variant of the modem. Just to let you know
2 Likes
Bugger!
Thank you for that. Well, I have to cancel my order and that is hugely disappointing and annoying. Pure monitor these forums and know that this issue has been thrown up by, admittedly only a handful of us, but with us here waiting for an answer. Their guy posted the probability was high so the decent thing to do would have been to follow that up.
In my mind I’ve been pretty understanding of the pressures they are under with regard to questionable comms, but this is appalling.
If Telstra IoT/M2M is not (at this point of time) accepting to connect (certify) BM818-T1 to their wireless 4G network there is not much @joao.azevedo can do about it, but still showing his good will (even if unofficial) to help this community is something that counts for myself at most (even when surrounding/reality is not favorable). @Brad, if soon appear another certified 4G embedded modules on M.2 card for Australia I don’t see any problem to stay active with your order for Librem 5 as, I suppose, you are not scheduled to get batch Birch anyway. For clearer understanding Telstra Wireless Application Development Guideline (September 2019) is available from here.
And, as at the moment we know that Quectel EM06-E works with Telstra but no one confirmed here if it might work with Librem 5 as an option, individual upgrade (with or without Purism support involvement as @deedend pointed out) or even some kind of official offer for those people that are interested in covering some additional in-house cost, if such ever officially appears for Gemalto Cinterion, Sierra Wireless, Telit, Quectel (by guessing here that the open-source alternative/contention/support from Qualcomm exists or needs to be fulfilled for the EP06, EG06 and/or EM06 group of modems at the first place) or equal M.2 modems. To sum up as I understand this, for BM818-T1 answer was clearly no, period … without any further thoughts on how to satisfy potential demand. Sorry, but might be that I understood some things here as partially as it gets (by awaiting 2020 to come).
I am actually probably going to be in batch zebrawood so this isn’t going to happen overnight.
I don’t know if Telstra are accepting the T1 or not. Do you know that?
I will leave things as they are for the moment. By the time I get to get my L5 I will have had options such as the Pinephone, or e foundation. I am keen to support Pure so if the opportunity to make it works presents itself I’ll grab it.
My irritation comes from the lack of follow up from the Pure post where the T1 was a high probability. For them not to clarify and the news to be gathered by someone asking and the relaying the info is piss poor.
2 Likes
No, I am not familiar with Telstra certification program but ACMA issued 5 steps for suppliers where they recognize particular obligations or responsibilities on how to comply with Australian law and rules.
I just had to follow up with Pure support re the T1 variant.
It is NOT dead in the water. Please see the reply below to my email (sorry don’t know how to do the fancy quote thing in a box)
All I can is to re-iterate (and possibly clarify more) what was already said on forums: we are working on this, there isa a probability that we will offer T1 variant but as of now we do not have any ETAs and we cannot promise this for sure.
I will talk to our CTO today or tomorrow to see if we have any news on this front and we will notify the community in time.
The official confirmation will for sure come before production build starts shipping, so I suggest you not to cancel your order until then (you will lose your place in shipping queue in case you change your mind and order again).
So, there is still chance. I’m sure its low on the “to do” list, but it sounds like its still alive which is different to it not being offered at all.
4 Likes
That could be a function of the number of customers in countries that need the T1 variant (and it is not as if the BM818-T1 is the only possible modem that could do the job).
I am in Evergreen anyway so there is no huge rush for my phone. It could ship on June 30, 2020 i.e. 7 months away and still meet the commitment.
For all the talk about IP calling etc. the bottom line for me is that if this phone can’t make voice and data calls and do SMSs then it is a failure. Running nice applications is secondary. Convergence is tertiary. So the modem situation needs to get sorted out and if that takes more time then so be it.
1 Like
As we know:
Just thinking (not knowing) loudly: what if there (Asia-Pacific Telecommunity) is mandatory (or otherwise not eligible for the official certification) for any handset to support both 3G (UMTS) bands within the very same modem: 3G 850MHz (B5) and 3G 900MHz (B8)? IMO, @36w4r6, @deedend and @zero should understand this much better than I do. Note: 3G support on 2100MHz (B1) might already be obsolete.
Current Thales Group company’s mPLS8-US variant brings:
3G (UMTS): 1900(B2), 1700 AWS (B4) and 850(B5) MHz,
and mPLS8-E variant brings with it:
3G (UMTS): 900(B8), 1800(B3) and 2100(B1) MHz.
As of now, on 3G wireless voice telephony (besides having VoLTE support), to me looks like that only Quectel EM06-E and EM12-G are eligible to be used in Australia. On the other side those two Quectel M.2 modems are not supporting 2G GSM voice fallback (CSFB), that, for example, counts here in Germany**. Is BM818-T1 already considered to be ACMA certified for use in Australia as “the only possible” M.2 “modem that could do the job”? Would be nice if answer might sound like this: “Right now, we are pursuing the RCM mark for Australia.”
This is just some kind of self-thought, liking to point out to LTE Carrier Aggregation (like 5A-28A or 8A-28A), liking to learn more about, perhaps nothing serious from my side.
**P.S. Comparatively to 3G frequencies, mPLS8-US variant brings:
2G (GSM): 850(B5), 900(B8), 1800(B3) and 1900(B2) MHz,
and mPLS8-E variant brings:
2G (GSM): 900(B8) and 1800(B3) MHz. This is, for example, required/needed frequencies feature within Germany until 31.12.2033.
That’s an interesting question. I wouldn’t have thought so, but honestly I have no idea.
1 Like
I believe that things are always moving forward. Here is just an legacy upgrade, current example of ETM-ADB-ELS61 LTE Cat.1 module (without Voice support) that supports minimum of needed Australian LTE (3,5,8,28) and 3G (1,5,8) frequency bands. Similar/adequate Cinterion LTE Cat.4 or LTE Cat.6 modules are for sure somewhere around the corner.
Hi everyone, I’m wondering, shouldn’t Purism be answering this question ‘Does their Librem phone work in Australia?’ or at least has ANYONE bought one of their phones and used it here? I’ve scrolled through many comments on similar threads… and am wondering why we (Australians) are trying to work through this… wouldn’t the company be the best to answer this? I’m also wondering if the Librem 5 USA works in Australia as opposed to the Librem 5… which has a long wait… not sure what the differences are.
I am in Australia, bought a phone (Librem 5, received 2 years ago) and it works in Australia.
If you are specifically asking about carrier compatibility, see also: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Cellular-Providers (scroll down to get to Australia).
I successfully tested the Librem 5 on the Telstra network and on the TPG/Vodafone network. I haven’t tested it on the Optus network. That is no way a suggestion that it won’t work with Optus, just that I haven’t tested it and hence I can’t make any claims.
One of the problems with reading old topics is that the information can be out of date. There was a time in the dim dark past when it was uncertain whether the Librem 5 would work in Australia (particularly in the bush) because at the time the “-T1” modem variant was not yet being offered. (That’s the variant you will need in Australia.) That consideration has long ceased to be an issue.
“My” topic covering (initially) any Australia-specific issues is at: [MyL5] Australia/New Zealand
It is my understanding that the modem cards for the Librem 5 USA are the same as those for the Librem 5. So there should be no differences between the two phones as far as mobile network issues go.
The core difference between the Librem 5 USA and the Librem 5 is that the former is assembled in the US, from components made in the US as far as is possible. The consequent difference is that the former is a lot more expensive (and that is an unpleasant difference with the way the exchange rate is at the moment). Only you can decide what your goals are in contemplating a purchase and hence which is best suited to you.