I wonder how hard it is for Pure to give an idea of whether or not this option will be offered? Others would know more about production requires etc, or maybe they have to buy 1000 of them or something.
Given the approach to communication that I’ve seen I won’t hold my breath. But it would be nice to know, because at this stage it appears that the phone won’t be very compatible with regional Australia.
You should contact Purism directly and ask them. How to properly send emails to Purism
(Most of the participants in this forum are not employees of Purism, do not speak on behalf of Purism, and as far as Purism-specific information goes have access only to the information that they have been able to pick up over time, which information they can direct you to.)
If you have not already ordered then I recommend that you do not order unless and until there is a clear statement regarding ordering for Australia.
I’m fairly sure that resolving that question is on the “to do” list for the Librem 5 but then I’m fairly sure that there are lots of other things on that list. 
I’ve already asked a while ago, and they told me that they were evaluating the T1 variant, to add to the offer. I believe it’s pointless to keep asking, I hope that when they’ll come up with the shipment emails, they will disclose this information as well. Otherwise I can’t see how I can be aware if the phone will works in my country or not…
If this is a new order then interest and potential demand can be used to justify spending the time on it.
Mmm yeah, I suppose you’re right!
Sure. An email at this point of proceedings isn’t out of line I reckon. I’ll do just and report back of course.
Logical suggestion of course. Thanks.
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."
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
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.
+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!
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.
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
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.
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.