Let’s talk Cape (as a Telecom Employee)

This post is months if not a year in the making but I'm going to do my absolute best to make it clear and concise for those who are thinking about making the switch.

As the title implies, I work for a telecom provider in the US and have a really in-depth understanding on how cell networks operate all the way from the OSP cable, out to the antenna so when I started to hear about a new MVNO that was privacy focused I was naturally intrigued.

I want to preface by saying I'm not affiliated with Cape, nor have I even spoken with anyone from Cape before so anything said here is my own opinion and observation. I did sign up for the service using my own money, but if you'd like to try it out feel free to use my referral for $20 off a month using code NEYH86GT. (I do also benefit with $20 off my service).

Let's talk about the service quality first. While Cape uses 2 networks right now known as Alpha and Tango (one of which has a PLMN number of 310 260) the first thing you will notice is the speeds just aren't as fast as if you were using that carrier directly. If you aren't a "power user", you might not even notice a difference but I think it's just something to be mindful of. As of recently you can choose which network you prefer but it may switch automatically regardless of what you have chosen (hopefully they fix that soon). Now, this may be a little more nuanced but I'm personally over cautious with everything just due to my line of work so I always try to offer this piece of advice when I can (regardless if you choose to go with Cape or some other carrier) Consider using a DNS Proxy while surfing the web on cellular and a VPN on public or unfamiliar wifi!

IMSI, IMEI, and Obscura what the hell does it all mean for me? IMSI is your mobile subscriber identity – all phones have it. It's a 15 digit number assigned to your sim card that follows you from tower to tower that includes your country code, network code and subscriber identifier. While it's not super common, if someone is able to capture it they could theoretically figure out location history and even intercept your calls and texts… Cape offers a rotation feature that lets you change it once per day, or as needed but you only get 7 IMSI's per week so you will end up reusing them if you are over using it. This is not to be confused with IMEI rotation which is possible, but not offered to the general public (also known as Obscura). As it relates to current events… the IMSI is like the license plate to your car, and the IMEI is the VIN.

Cape does also offer a secondary phone number which I personally haven't used yet, but based on my own testing it doesn't actually appear to the underlying carrier because it's not another esim – from what I can tell, its encrypted through Cape instead which is great.

The last thing I wanted to touch on is Capes retention records – This is something that used to keep me up at night when I first started working in the Telecom industry because all the major carriers keep calls, texts, data usage and more forever basically… it's amazing how much data one company can have on you. Cape, on the other hand was "built to forget" meaning call and text logs are deleted after 24 hours. (This doesn't make them immune from getting subpoenaed, so don't misuse the service). I haven't dove into the encrypted voicemail (which is HUGE vm's are typically stored on servers in plain text or other unencrypted formats..) Network Lock, or Secure Global Roaming simply because I haven't analyzed them myself just yet.

I hope to keep this thread ongoing, and report back with any findings and or tips/tricks but so far, everything has been incredibly smooth! The port-in took about 6 minutes and I can also say based on my experience if you want to sign up using something like Privacy.com or Cloaked Pay those do work (comment if you want a referral code for either) If you are porting in, they offer $500 worth of credits and does stack with the referral code to bring down the monthly cost a good bit.

Again, if you want to try it out feel free to use NEYH86GT Thanks!