Secure/Private Phone Network?

As someone who’s spent a lot of time working in the world of telco, it’s depressing how inherently unsecure the networks are in their design – Some networks attempt to improve on this which is good, however I simply wouldn’t call them secure.

My suggestion to anyone seriously worried about security – Consider the Internet access on your device no more secure than open WiFi at a coffee shop, and assume Calls/SMS are no more secure than a public conversation.

In short, use data/internet based over the top applications with encryption that you trust, obviously also trusting your endpoint/device too.

However remember that even that does nothing if your worried of location/device tracking.

If the carrier is your main threat, then port your number out to Google Voice, lock that down seriously, and go prepaid. If you buy your phone in cash, install a privacy-sneisitive OS like Graphene, and only use prepaid without giving info, then your phone starts off as being not associated with you. From there, you need to practice extremely good hygiene to not have it tied back to you. Never give anyone that phone number (only use the Voice number, which you'll forward), only connect by VPN, probably use few or no apps (web apps only), and definitely never have your phone on outside of a faraday bag within, say, 1 mile of your house (distance depending on density.)

There are legitimate reasons for doing this (one great example is to never get caught unwittingly in a geofence search warrant), but mostly it's not worth the trouble. And that's why no one does it.

All this to say that you should treat all the info you give to telcos as leaked from that time, and act accordingly. The only way to seriously avoid leaks is to give them nothing to leak.

Not anything I'd trust.

Use communication software you trust (Signal?) over VPN on IP networks (cell/wifi/wired).

No, assume your carrier is selling your location and treat your mobile internet like you would coffee shop wifi.

One the more accessible security measures you can take is to get a second number that you don't communicate publicly. Use this number for recovery codes and MFA when needed. This will reduce your exposure significantly.

There was one..and it was run by FBI / CIA to trap people