Re: [PLUG] Suggestions for replacement of android phone: small, privacy-

Re: [PLUG] Suggestions for replacement of android phone: small, privacy-respecting, T-Mobile?

Linked thread is from 2014. Talks about upcoming iOS 8 (current is 10.3). While it’s true that your device has to support Wifi calling, it’s not true that it needs to be a T-Mobile branded handset.

The Nexus phones and iPhones are officially endorsed and supported for wifi calling. Most newer Android handsets also have the needed software. If your phone supports wifi calling, T-Mobile will enable it. T-Mo specific software is no longer required.

Your BT tethering story is familiar. The older plans (Simple Choice and the prepaid plans) did specifically forbid tethering of any kind and the phone would generally honor the provisioning flag telling it not to offer tethering. That said, the T-Mobile One plan, the only one T-Mo is currently advertising and pushing, does specifically allow tethering of all kinds without restriction. If you were to switch to a One plan, your S6 and Grand Prime would allow tethering via BT and wifi at low speed without other limitations.

On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 10:56 PM, Eric H. Johnson <ejohnson@camalytics.com> wrote:

Rich,

I bought my S6 shortly before getting the grand prime. I tested bluetooth tethering at the T-mobile store, and it worked. If it did not, I was going to buy the unlocked version. Shortly thereafter tethering got disabled. I called T-mobile to complain and try to get it turned back on. They told me that it must have been on by mistake because it should not have been enabled.

On both phones Bluetooth tethering is grayed out and cannot be turned on as far as I can tell.

Regarding wifi calling, it is true I have not tried that on an unlocked phone in a while. There was a third party app which does much the same thing, but is not T-mobile wifi calling, and requires qoing through some hoops to get incoming and outgoing calls on the same number.

See:
https://support.t-mobile.com/thread/73923

Regards,
Eric
On June 8, 2017 10:36:06 PM EDT, "Rich Mingin (PLUG)" <plug@frags.us> wrote:
I'm sorry, but both of those points are outdated/wrong.

Tethering is now, and has been for the last few years, done by DPI/browser agent, among other methods. It is absolutely not restricted more or less on branded phones vs. unbranded. Also, current T-Mobile One (Their primary plan) allows unlimited low speed (512kbps) tethering w/o additional charge. T-Mobile One Plus (5$/month more) allows 10GB of full speed tethered use, then unlimited approx. ISDN/DSL speeds. The days of phone firmware based tethering provisioning flags and the bypassing thereof have ended.

Wifi calling is supported on all iPhones, most recent Android phones, and even several of their feature phone (dumbphone) models. It is in no way locked to branded handsets only. Evidence: my purchased-from-Google Nexus 6 doing wifi calling right now, my Galaxy S3 (originally purchased as an AT&T handset and later unlocked) doing wifi calling two years ago.

I can't really speak to the current state of Android privacy, besides noting that any privacy derives from a compact between you and the firmware author/compiler, not you alone. Some level of trust is required on any cell phone.
On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 9:54 PM, Eric H. Johnson <ejohnson@camalytics.com> wrote:
Greg,

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime for my father a little over a year ago. At the time it was about $150 through T-mobile. I see you can get the unlocked version on Amazon for just over $100 now. It has 8GB storage. Not much, but may well work for you as it did for my dad.

The advantage of using an unlocked phone is that T-mobile usually locks down tethering on the branded phones, however the branded phones support wifi calling.

As a basic phone, it is quite adequate, and does fit in a shirt pocket. From a security standpoint, it really does not have enough storage to support drive encryption, otherwise it supports all of the security features of any Android device.

Not sure if a later model has come out to replace it.

HTH,
Eric

On June 8, 2017 9:09:05 PM EDT, Greg Helledy <gregsonh@gra-inc.com> wrote:

Today I dropped my phone. Half the screen doesn't work at all and the
other half displays dimly in a few colors. It is a Samsung Galaxy S
Blaze 4G.
https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-galaxy-s-blaze-4g-t-mobile/review/

This is a very old phone (released in 2012). I chose it because it was
small (4" screen) and because there was a Cyanogenmod ROM available for
it--I flashed it immediately on purchase.

The only real limitation I ran into over 4 years of use was a lack of
onboard storage (1 GB). I have to confess I haven't kept up with the
state of Android since then--specifically how much it siphons off your
personal data, and how much control it gives you over what apps do on
your phone.

What's a good current choice for a phone that:
1. Is a good privacy choice
2. Isn't too large (fits in a pants pocket easily)
3. Isn't super expensive--having the latest is not important to me
4. Has to be a SIM model, fully-compatible with T-Mobile

I know this isn't really a "linux" topic, so maybe just email me
directly if you think that's more appropriate.

Thanks,

--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug