Sal

I have the Tianje MF903 (https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32719535459.html), which I bought early 2022.

But just now I have done a search and I see many more pocket wifi routers now. Unfortunately I can't tell you if they work well, or if it is also possible to change their IMEI easily. The one I have is functional, but it doesn't have a very long battery life.

And the audacity to talk about metadata when Telegram accounts still require a phone number today (as they did five years ago when this post was written) is just… 🤯

Not only that, but I believe that they actively try to prevent VoIP numbers from being used to create accounts.

Almost all countries require official authentication to activate a SIM card.

Fortunately not in the Netherlands. I don't think that's the case in the rest of the EU. I can use free sim cards as much as I want!

When communicating with cell towers, a phone will also broadcast its unique IMEI identifier. So, even if you swap the SIM card every day, your IMEI is still being broadcast the same.

Changing the IMEI of a phone in the EU is illegal, unless the manufacturer consents: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/31/section/1

So... I have a Chinese 4G mobile router, and the manufacturer gives me the permission to change the IMEI as it is an integrated feature of the device. I use that for my data. The data codes I purchase small quantities in bulk with cash, and I can access the router via its ip from my phone's browser to send the SMS messages to activate the data codes as needed. Since WiFi connections are abundant around here I keep these codes for emergencies. I can go a few months some time without activating data codes. I mostly use them when traveling internationally.

Thank you for that reference! Very interesting

I can tell you one benefit: Money. Most of my server's costs come from storing federated content. Federating with threads would likely be expensive.

Awesome job! Thanks again! Upgraded without issue 🤘🏼

Ah, cool! I got my 4 devices today and I have managed to play with them a bit. They are pretty cool! I was able to walk over to a park near my house and spoke with people across the world with no data in my phone :D

I ordered four of the simpler devices this weekend (LilyGO T3-S3 LoRa 868MHz - SX1262) and I have been reading about antennas.

Since I live in a city I am not super optimistic about the range. But I am still very curious about the concept, and I would love to be surprised.

After doing some search about antennas, I have decided to test the following combination:

• 3dBi 868MHz ISM Band Dipole Terminal Antenna for the LoRa that stays at home:

• Sighunter 868 MHz to bring with me.

I also have a vector network analyzer (LiteVNA) that can be used for checking antennas, so I will also try to build some antennas myself. I doubt that my custom antennas will approach the performance of the professional ones... But I just find it such a cool concept.

Have you already gotten to play with it? What is your experience so far?

Yeah, I found out only after choosing that domain name... This TLD also gets penalized by the automatic e-mail spam detectors (like SpamAssassin). I wouldn't pick the ".xyz" TLD if I were picking today 😅

You are awesome! Thanks :D I hope you get to relax this weekend!!

Sure.

If I make my own AI image generator and create a nice image with it, or use some AI engine that gives me full ownership of the output, I can choose to share it online with whatever license I want to share it with. I don't see why the regular copyright rules for digital images and photographs would not hold... If someone shares their AI creation online and wants others to share with attribution, or not share at all, what is wrong with that?

I can take a ton of photos of objects with my phone, upload them to Flickr, and they are all copyrighted. That doesn't mean that other's can simply take similar photos if they wish to do so. The same with AI. One can decide whether to share with attribution, pay someone to let them use it, or to generate the image themselves using AI. It does not seem like a problem to me.

Thank you for your hard work!!

I appreciate that you going through this test period. I hope it all goes smoothly and that at least a few hairs remain on your heads by the end of this week. Good luck!