As, i share my findings about communications and privacy with others, there are a lot of questions and curiosities about them, so i wanted to share some thoughts about what I’ve learned about this subject. Please, know that i am no expert and all the knowledge i have is from my own journey as well as listening to others via emails, seminars and video teachings.

Background for my journey.

I started been an Apple-Snob, i had apple everything. Until, i began to figure out the marketing and intrusion Apple and google has. Besides the cost that keeps sky rocketing!!!

As you think of changing over you need to think on your own workflow. From your contacts, calendar, texting as well as other apps that support your life style. Please, take a minute to write down what is important to you, including the apps that you need.

Making a change over can be done two ways

  1. A complete disregard of the old and put on a new, including your calendar as well as your contacts and such.
  2. A more thought out approach where you move slowly and with patience as you do the change over.

By the way when it comes to privacy, your text and voice calls through the regular providers are not private. And, your devices are designed to be snitches, they record audio, send picts, share your location, and scan your phone to mine your data. So they can either use it against you or to market you.

Please, also consider what is important saving $ vs having privacy. If your thought process is just to save money, then this can lead you towards compromising value for the sake of a few dollars.

Over the last couple of years i have been playing with the technology, learning, making investments of time, lots of time and resources. Buying phone, returning phones, as well as trying different providers.

Having said that here are some options

  • Brax phone (brax.me): they have great products and information in privacy. I’ve tried the earlier phones and they worked and found several inconsistencies in regards to texting and the integration with the main service providers while using the Leaneage OS. I also tried their vpn and it works well too.
    • Brax has a new phone that seems to be good, i do not have any personal experience with it and if you do, please share the info with me.
  • Volta now 4Freedom at (https://www.4freedommobile.com/). – 4Freedom is a relatively new company and it seems to have a very good product at a good value. They also provide SIM’s and eSIM’s services.
  • There are many other options such as:

As you consider your choices, please be kind and patient with yourself and the companies you will work with. These new options that we did not have before have sometimes issues with service and/or the way you are use to doing things. In some cases you will need to do things differently, specially if you are moving more into the private sector. Having said this, i have found an incredible customer service that is like a breath of fresh air in the midst of the corporate jungle that only seeks its own benefit at your cost.

Something to consider is the following. The technology we use in the future needs to be Open Source, this prevents corporate structures from locking you in to their on way of doing business. Look at things like changing a battery, is this a simple process or not or is it even doable.

My process

For me I bought myself a Pixel 6-Pro fully unlocked. It took some doing and yet i was able to find a great company that listened to my needs and provide exactly what i needed.

Here are the steps i took

  • I started to move my calendar and contact to Proton, this took me several months and almost a year until i trained myself to work differently.
    • On my iPhone i found software to transfer my contacts and calendar my proton. I also stop letting the iPhone do any automatic updates and sign out from my apple ID. I did this for about a year.
    • Once i found a phone (pixel system through Brad.me) i began to stop using my iPhone.
  • Phone process
    • Bought new phone (pixel 6 pro)
    • Rooted the OS and i installed Graphene OS,
    • Installed my apps, created two users one for the my day to day use of phone. And, another that i use for financial aspect of my life. This creates an extra level of security for your financials.
    • The last thing i did was put the SIM, basically you should have functionality of your device via WIFI first, including making calls. With the new system and providers there is no need to have any type of Apple ID or Google ID to access the apps. It’s completely unanimous if you like.
  • i hope and pray that this is beneficial and this can support you on your journey towards finding solutions for your life.