Re: [gentoo-user] OpenSource Cellular

[Walter Dnes]

On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 06:33:23PM -0400, james wrote
> I have an expensive cellualr service and a Galaxy Note 9.
> It SUCKS really bad. I spend way too much time, just dealing with
> a close source system and way too many vendor traps. I'm done with with,
> and am curious if others have similar experiences and are interested in
> alternatives, that we the citizens control. In my newly forming
> approach, there is room for vendors and consumers and open source
> developers. I'm in the USA, but, there is absolutely no reason this
> movement I am proposing, could not sweep the globe, IP centric, free and
> open.

  I think Lineage OS is what you're looking for https://lineageos.org/
Open source, etc.  The main problem is that OEM's are locking down their
phones, and making it harder to reflash firmware.  Plus, you've got to
find somebody who knows what they're doing, and won't brick your phone.
I'd be interested in anything you come up with.  Here's why...

  I'm in suburban Toronto Canada.  The CRTC (our equivalant of the FCC)
have gone full asshole mode and decreed that *ALL* cellphone alerts are
sent at the Presidential Alert level (it's re-labelled "Emergency Alert"
up here).  *ALL* means *ALL*.  Yes that includes missing kid or child
custody dispute several hundred miles away.  What doesn't help is that
the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) has a policy that *THE ENTIRE
PROVINCE* gets a Presidential-Alert-masquarading-as-an-Amber-Alert when
one is launched.  For the American audience, Ontario is intermediate in
size between Alaska and Texas.  To add insult to injury, an "Amber
Alert" often results in 3 (***THREE***) Presidential alert messages,
even in the middle of the night...

* The original unblockable alert, sent in English
* Oh yeah, Canada is officially bilingual, let's send out an unblockable
  message in French half an hour later
* an hour later the kid is found, so send out an unblockable "All Clear"

  Fortunately, the Canadian system is relatively new (spring 2018) and
is only designed to work with LTE.  By forcing my phone (Alcatel Go
Flip) down to 3G-only, I avoid these alerts.  Eventually, 3G will go
away, so I want a solution for that day.  So far in my neck of the woods,
there have been...

* 7 missing-kid alerts
* 2 test alerts
* 0 nuclear plant meltdowns
* 0 chemical spills
* 0 terrorist attacks
* 0 tornadoes
* 0 partidges-in-a-pear-tree-e-e-e-e-e

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications