I recently learned about Cape and am trying them out to see how it works. I’d be interested in any other info or opinions people may have.
They are private by nature. They don’t collect a bunch of info on you to create an account. They aren’t going to sell your data. Its clear it’s not anonymous, but I don’t need that I just need privacy.
Cool features include:
A rotating IMSI number that changes every 24 hours or so.
What they call Network Lock, which basically pings your phone when your IMSI attaches to the network to verify proximity. If it doesn’t match then they deny it. This should prevent SMS interception and sim jacking.
There’s also secondary phone numbers included that handle SMS only, so you can use them for services you don’t want to give your real number to or as a burner number.
Phone numbers are not identified as VoIP so that (stupid) limitation from some services isn’t applicable.
I also like that they seem like a very practical solution. Right now I use JMP for VoIP numbers and buy a data sim separately. I’ve looked at other services and had issues with them. Cape seems very straight forward and simple.
That being said, they are a very new company. Apparently this has been worked on for years but the service just went live in January. That’s my biggest hesitation.
My testing over 2 days has been fine. I haven’t seen anything that is negative or a red flag.
Pricing is mildly expensive overall for a single line. No family plans, which is good from a privacy stance and there’s a referral discount so basically if you use that to sign up multiple accounts it brings the price down like a family plan would. But I’m a single line so I don’t get any of that benefit.
There’s some missing features but none that I really care about. They have a clearly marked out roadmap for the year, so I guess over time we get to see if they stick to it.
What do you guys think?
Oh this is super helpful. Thank you for taking your time to say it. It confirms some stuff I thought was true, but I was not sure about.
About rotating IMSIs, what about the IMEI? That can’t be rotated, can it? B/c it’s how the carrier knows your device is allowed to connect?
IDC about authorities per se. I just REALLY want to avoid normal dragnet surveilence. The data broker kind. Seems like this kind of semi private carrier might have a part to play. I have more to learn before I take the leap.
The links are just to the wikipedia pages BTW.
Yeah, the IMEI is set to the hardware like a serial number for lack of a better description. That’s why if you want to protect that, you never put a SIM in your phone. Also, if you go that route you need to buy your phone cash or second hand. IMEIs are logged at purchase so if you buy with a credit card its instantly traceable to your name.
And yes, I presume you are not avoiding authorities and just want some basic privacy. That’s all I’m after, I don’t need to be a ghost.
This privacy game is a process, and it never stops. But if you take small steps all the time you always make progress. You’ll also figure out what your true threat profile is once you hit all the friction points. Its all theoretical until you put it into practice.