Privacy phone, part 4

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a new SIM from a different carrier in order to set up and test a privacy phone. That is, a phone that doesn't share all of my data with some big company that sells it to advertisers.

The latest company I'm trying is Good2Go (they style it "good2go") and it has stuff I like and stuff I don't like.

What I don't like is that it's running T-Mobile, though they indicated it ran AT&T. Well, it says it can run AT&T, but I can't get it to connect to AT&T -- yes, there is a setting on the phone for that -- so it picks T-Mobile automatically.

The good news is that this is the best T-Mobile reception I've ever received at home. I've used T-Mobile in the past, many times over the years, and reception at home has always been spotty. That includes recently, with a couple of previous SIMs I tried with this phone.

So far, it's working. I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Perhaps T-Mobile has improved their reception in my area. I really don't know. But so far, the texting and phone service works on cellular. GPS works. Apps that require Internet connectivity work on cellular.P

I have to say, I'm surprised that it works. This may actually be my solution. However, there are a few things I have to keep in mind.

First, if it won't connect properly to a cellular network, it's no good for me. So far, this setup works.

Next, there are the apps. I need to find apps that do what I need to do but respect privacy. That means that apps that depend on Google Services won't work. There are alternatives, and I'm looking at those, but the fact is that many apps won't work, although my understanding is that most will.

I'm going to try open source apps initially, rather than proprietary apps, where possible. I mean, if I go through all this and some proprietary app is sending my data to the big companies or selling it themselves anyway, what have I accomplished? Open source apps reduce this likelihood greatly.

For now, I suppose I'll keep taking this phone around with me and see if it actually works in regards to privacy. I enjoy my Streaming Life. I'd like to have a private life to go along with it.