[jdillaaa]

As a few others have pointed out I'm not sure I buy the privacy argument here (although there is very little to go on on the linked page..)

Having your phone radio on at all (even without a SIM, e.g. E911 calls) is inherently privacy violating. If you must have connectivity on the go, any prepaid SIM + always on VPN will do the trick. Use Twilio if you want multiple numbers.

$99/mo is ludicrous, even if this actually works, which I have doubts about given the history of purism.

[fabrice_d]

I asked them to elaborate on the privacy angle, and they answered (https://forums.puri.sm/t/announcing-librem-awesim-a-privacy-...) that a key point is that the SIM is registered in Purism name instead of the end user one. That would shield you from some id based tracking.

[jdillaaa]

Yeah I mean a prepaid SIM + top up with cash is < $30 USD.

It just feels like they're taking advantage of people.

Although now that I think about it I wonder how they do E911? Sounds like a liability

[strombofulous]

I worked at best buy many years ago and we had to scan IDs when selling prepaid cards.

[mindfulhack]

It wouldn't be hard for someone to resell SIMs (even pre-activated SIMs for a premium) to have less data on you recorded at time of said secondary transaction?

[voxic11]

But the reseller still has to have their ID on file so they will constantly get deposed in cases where a sim card they sold was used and now the police are trying to identify the buyer. It would be a huge pain for them and I don't see it actually protecting the buyer much.

[eptcyka]

The location data alone is enough to personally identify people.

[amelius]

It could still be improved upon, e.g. by swapping sim cards every N days.

Perhaps a writable (auto-updating?) sim card could make this process easier and faster.

[codemusings]

I'm not a US citizen so I'm not familiar with mobile plan prices there but T-Mobile Germany (our AT&T) has an unlimited data plan for 83€/month. So that's actually pretty close to the 99$. And seeing as they have the overhead as a relatively small company it seems okay to me.

Also they have their Librem One offering that includes a VPN. So it very much fits that use case. It's just not included.

[Rebelgecko]

Just so you have a reference for US prices, I'm with T-Mobile here in the US and pay ~$120 a month for 3 phones iwth unlimited data plans (although my speeds are throttled if I use my phone as a hotspot). Purism is definitely charging a premium for (potential?) privacy. Other MVNOs usually charge around $40-50 per month if you get a single line