Hardware switch to cut power to the baseband modem

It would be so great if mudita could incorporate the ability to completely cut the power to the baseband modem via a hardware switch on the side of the mudita pure like the Librem 5 phone has recently done. This would allow for much more privacy. It’s great that the phone does not have GPS but a users location can still be known by cell tower triangulation. If one could completely kill the power to the baseband modem, therefore cutting all transmissions, the phone would be impossible to track. The current switch on the side only triggers a software / airplane mode. It does not kill power to the baseband modem and therefore it can still transmit if the code is compromised.

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@kxkx I’m checking on this for you.

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@kxkx Our engineers informed me that an ability to completely cut power would require hardware re-design and it is not possible at this stage. The MuditaOS will be open sourced so our community will be able to verify first-hand whether the code guarantees cutting off transmissions. Hopefully that helps.

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Thank you. :blush:

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What GSM modem chip have you decided to put in the phone?

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@kxkx I answered the original question here: What GSM module / baseband modem? My apologies for the delayed response. I’m not sure how I missed your original post.

One of the big deciding factors on whether I will cancel my order or not is dependent on what GSM module/ baseband modem has been installed in the pure. Every other phone I’ve ever bought has always listed what GSM module/base band modem they have put in the phone prior to their release. Every other phone manufacturer in the world explicitly lists what modem they use in the specifications. Before I buy a phone I always make sure to know what this very important bit of information is. Why does Mudita have to be so secretive and not tell us what modem they have chosen??

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@kxkx I understand it might be frustrating. I’m sure our engineers have their reason for this, however I have reach out to our the team team with your specific concern. I will get back to you once they come back to we with an answer.

@kxkx I asked around & I was able to find out that this is the type of modem which will be in Pure: https://www.quectel.com/UploadFile/Product/Quectel_EG25-G_LTE_Specification_V1.1.pdf Hopefully this helps.

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I appreciate you. Thank you very much l

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@kxkx. You could remove the battery.

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@nicole-ksusa :slight_smile: Good idea :slight_smile:

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Taking the battery out is always the full-proof way

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Nice same modem thats in the pinephone and pinephone pro linux phones

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A bit of technical nitpicking: lack of GPS doesn’t mean you need triangulation to locate the phone. According to Quectel’s GNSS App Note this modem supports RRLP so it might still provide the location data to the operator if configured with proper AT commands.
It would be interesting to review the modem init routines once the phone is available.

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This is really a pity. :frowning: It would have been a big plus IMHO. It already is a physical switch, so why not make it a true physical kill switch!?
More background on this topic and how it can be done right (Librem 5 phone): Lockdown Mode on the Librem 5: Beyond Hardware Kill Switches – Purism

This link is not working anymore. New link: LTE EG25-G | Quectel

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I think that’s there’s no way to add that feature for this model. But I truly think adding a hardware switch similar to the librem 5 would sky rockets Mudita within the privacy communities. It would put Mudita next to the Pinephone and the Librem 5. No other phones have that feature, that I know of. Especially since your modem is already modified, which is the reason I plan to purchase your phone. I hope this can be considered for a new model.

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