What should I be asking my ‘Provider’ to ensure they can provide the service for the Librem 5? Will the " Hardware Specifications: Librem 5" at https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ be enough? Or, what should I be looking for in a Provider?
TIA
~s~
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Just be sure to choose the correct modem for the UMTS bands in your country.
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Check cellmapper.net to see which bands your provider uses in your area, then choose a modem that supports those bands.
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IMO, you should do yourself a favor and ask nothing (don’t waste your time), I’ll not even try to count reasons … first one: they don’t sell Librem 5, etc.
Furthermore, @epinez guidance/post here is important and related to Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB):
Guaranteed or certified to work out-of-the-box within particular country … with particular TS provider … for example, for CSFB, I believe that TSPs in Germany will stick to/with 2G (GSM).
And, here is link to quality cross-comparison table for Canada:
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on the other hand they might decide to do something that RESTRICTS the L5 from the cell-network 
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In Poland the situation begins to be healthy: carriers start to make money by providing the connectivity, rather than being a cell phone resellers. I can tell it by my carrier, who offers rebates if you join their network with your own phone. You can still buy the phone from the carrier, but that is now a second option, not the default.
The effect is that they adhere to standards so that any phone works.
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At least for the Evergreen batch and in the US, if the phone is certified by the FCC, then there could be anti-trust claims against the carrier if they don’t allow the Librem 5 on to their network. There are many cell phone manufacturers with phones on the carriers’ networks. How can they legally discriminate against Purism? Cell phone carriers are great targets for class action lawsuits. Even if the customer/victim gets little or nothing out of it, the lawyers get rich and the carriers get punished financially. There is also a risk to the carrier of regulation being imposed on them. Unless the L5 poses a real and verifiable risk of damage to the carrier’s network, they shouldn’t be able to stop the L5 from operating on their network.
Then again, if you have an old Android or Apple phone that you’ve retired, you can always spoof the IMEI number on your L5 to appear to be that old retired phone. One way or another, my L5 (when I get it) is going on to that network.
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My anecdotal experience:
My wife and I both use At&T in the US. She was on the phone with their tech support several months back for some reason, and when they were done I took the opportunity to take the phone and ask the level 2 tech about the Librem 5.
She (the tech) admitted that she had not heard of it before, but was curious and asked questions as to what about the L5 attracted me, so that if anyone else asked about it she could know where they are coming from and what they might care about.
She also said that although it is new and not something she knows about, she would be surprised if there were not some way she could get it working on the AT&T network. She said she had a fair number of less-than-common phones in the past that she has hooked up to their network and got working, and sounded confident the L5 would work fine too.
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i mean network or not the modems firmware is still a black-box (only it’s a quarantined from the main CPU black-box) in the case of the L5 (El Cinque) 
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I suppose by condoning it. It is my perception that the US has been quite weak on anti-trust for a long time, particularly in the tech sector. Perhaps I am wrong but in the 20 years I’ve been working in this industry, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of regulation to help class action activity. In fact, the average take on class action that I’ve experienced, like a 1.50 payout per person, is such a joke that I hold very little expectation that the threat of a class-action is enough of a deterrent.
Please feel free to advise me where you perceive I am wrong.
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The $1.50 payout per person is okay. A business business model where the customers get nothing from a lawsuit would even work, as long as the lawyers all get paid and the carrier has to spend a lot in attorney and legal fees defending themselves. But perhaps with the L5, they could go for several thousands of dollars per customer. The first goal is to punish the carrier if they shut-out the L5, and to maintain that pain on the carriers until they relent. After that, maybe the customers might get paid too.
With Verizon, they won’t open a new service account for you unless you give them a valid IMEI number that they approve of. If the model number isn’t explicitly allowed on their network, they won’t approve it and you will not be issued an account. But you can give them an IMEI number for any old model of phone that they approve of and that you do own. Then you just put the SIM card in to the phone they wouldn’t approve of and all is good. So give them your old note 2 (or other old phone) IMEI number when you open your account for your L5. I don’t know if T-Mobile and Sprint do the same or not. Just make sure to spoof the IMEI number on your L5 to match what you told them if you do this. I plan to go to great lengths to get them to officially put the L5 on their network though before resorting to giving them the wrong IMEI number.
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I’m so spoiled I wouldn’t ever use Verizon in such conditions. If it would be the only option, or alternatives would be equally bad, I would go without cellular connectivity altogether.
I still remember the world without personal computers, cell phones and without commercial internet. It did not burn.
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back then no - but TODAY … who knows … the way i choose to live my life is one thing but to restrict others from freedom-respecting alternatives is another … i do hope we don’t reach the point when we have to say “no” to ALL technology because the world doesn’t have a moral compass at all anymore … maybe i’m too optimistic though
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Mint mobile (a T-Mobile reseller - MVNO) never even inquired about my phone. They just sent me the SIM card and activated my service with no questions about the phone even being asked. I used to use Page Plus mobile (a Verizon MVNO) and they did the same thing Verizon does. They have a database and if they can’t verify that your phone’s IMEI is in that database first, they don’t issue you a new service account.
Verizon is a rip-off anyway. I just got rid of Verizon. When I switched from Verizon to Mint, my bill went from just over $100 per month for one line, to a one-time payment of $180 for a whole year. Although Verizon does have the best network, I am happy with Mint.
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OK, dumb question. I need a modem to use a cell phone? My ‘modem’ (router) has a reach of 300 feet. I have a old D-link ‘modem’ somewhere in my horde room I can dig up, but how far can one go with a cell if it needs a modem? Sorry to seem dumb, but I’ve avoided cell discussions, reading about them, and listening to anyone praise theirs. Until now, when I see that privacy can happen.
~s~
The “modem” in this case is the small device in the phone that connects to cell towers and exchanges data.
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Thanks for your replies @Gavaudan . Love them. Short, to the point and easy to understand.
Wow. I thought using librems would be as easy as just choosing Google, or Apple to be my Stalker then signing up with a local provider. People I know with Google or Apple stalkers didn’t have to learn about Circuit Switched Fallback, or “modems”, move to a T-Mobile country, or take a course in understanding the contents and directions of the L5-Canada3 - though I very much appreciate the suggestion.
It’s getting very discombobulated, and frustrating to having to learn so much, just to buy into some form of privacy.
If I start another Topic I’ll only be referred back here, to this Topic question that is now lost in a myriad of off-topic pleasantries: SO
If I buy the L5 and I go to a provider, and they slip in a "SIM’, and it doesn’t work, and I try 2 more providers, and theirs won’t work, may I return the phone?
~s~
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the question is - have you ALREADY received an El Cinque ? if NOT then how can you return it ?
That you are asking the question suggests that you should just wait until there are other customers in your country already successfully using the L5 and then they can tell you if there are any mobile network operators to avoid.
You’ve taken my question totally out of context. And I don’t know why you would do that.