I've begun to research obtaining an additional mobile phone(s) that I can use in a critical or emergency situation where maintaining anonymity may be important to my personal liberty and or survival.
From my initial investigation this is a very very deep rabbit hole. It seems like anything else worth doing, you need to list the parameters that are important to you.
Here is where I am at this stage:
The Device Criteria
1) Must not be traceable to my identity through the initial purchase. (Sold in stores where I can pay cash)
2) Needs to have a fairly long battery life while off. 1 week minimum but 2 weeks would be ideal.
3) Must be able to turn off GPS and Wifi anytime I want and stay off when the device is turned off and also remain off by default when restarting the device.
4) Must be unlocked
5) Must have a user replaceable SIM card.
6) Cost less than $100 but prefer less than $50
Cellular Service Criteria
1) Sim cards must be able to be purchase with cash and without providing any personal id. (Apparently Walmart sells quite a few models)
2) Service must be able to be activated in some way without providing any personal information, or allow the input of information which is not verifiable.
3) The Cellular service should have reasonable coverage in the areas that I most commonly frequent. For now that is the east coast of the USA from Florida to NY.
4) The service should have a minimum expiration term of 3 months but ideally the longest term possible is what I'm looking for.
5) The SIM card/Service can be funded using some sort of Cryptocurrency or with gift cards that can be purchased by cash, or VISA gift cards.
6) The minimum service should have 120min of voice, 500 txt messages and 1gb of data.
7) Annual cost of $200 or less per year.
If I draw on my Firearm Purchase experience, I could saved a lot of time and money if I had asked some intelligent questions and listened to good advice before buying shiny objects form companies who market really well.
I did find a few seemingly helpful links that I'll share that I've stumbled onto so far, but I value the opinions and experience of this community more.
Reddit-Burner Phones in the age of Coronavirus and Mandatory Contact Tracing Apps
LifeHacker - How to buy a burner phone
The Intercept - How Protesters setup a burner phone (This is an ANTIFA/Leftist Site)
GraphineOS (Considering using a GrapheneOS Compatible device for even higher security)
I would really like input from anyone who has already purchased a burner phone and achieved some of the goals that I've listed. Any feedback, advice, input or questions is appreciated. My plan is to do this and eventually share what I've learned here.
From my initial investigation this is a very very deep rabbit hole. It seems like anything else worth doing, you need to list the parameters that are important to you.
Here is where I am at this stage:
The Device Criteria
1) Must not be traceable to my identity through the initial purchase. (Sold in stores where I can pay cash)
2) Needs to have a fairly long battery life while off. 1 week minimum but 2 weeks would be ideal.
3) Must be able to turn off GPS and Wifi anytime I want and stay off when the device is turned off and also remain off by default when restarting the device.
4) Must be unlocked
5) Must have a user replaceable SIM card.
6) Cost less than $100 but prefer less than $50
Cellular Service Criteria
1) Sim cards must be able to be purchase with cash and without providing any personal id. (Apparently Walmart sells quite a few models)
2) Service must be able to be activated in some way without providing any personal information, or allow the input of information which is not verifiable.
3) The Cellular service should have reasonable coverage in the areas that I most commonly frequent. For now that is the east coast of the USA from Florida to NY.
4) The service should have a minimum expiration term of 3 months but ideally the longest term possible is what I'm looking for.
5) The SIM card/Service can be funded using some sort of Cryptocurrency or with gift cards that can be purchased by cash, or VISA gift cards.
6) The minimum service should have 120min of voice, 500 txt messages and 1gb of data.
7) Annual cost of $200 or less per year.
If I draw on my Firearm Purchase experience, I could saved a lot of time and money if I had asked some intelligent questions and listened to good advice before buying shiny objects form companies who market really well.
I did find a few seemingly helpful links that I'll share that I've stumbled onto so far, but I value the opinions and experience of this community more.
Reddit-Burner Phones in the age of Coronavirus and Mandatory Contact Tracing Apps
LifeHacker - How to buy a burner phone
The Intercept - How Protesters setup a burner phone (This is an ANTIFA/Leftist Site)
GraphineOS (Considering using a GrapheneOS Compatible device for even higher security)
I would really like input from anyone who has already purchased a burner phone and achieved some of the goals that I've listed. Any feedback, advice, input or questions is appreciated. My plan is to do this and eventually share what I've learned here.