Hi,
I use GrapheneOS with no carrier, just VoIP numbers, which is fine as long as I have an internet connection. But I need mobile broadband for when I have no wi-fi. Michael Bazzell suggests using a data plan in his book. Now, there’s no such a thing in my country but I can subscribe to Silent.Link, which does the same. The thing is, I don’t understand how using mobile broadband is different from using a regular phone number from a carrier, as both use GSM towers and stuff.
tl;dr What should I know before purchasing a data plan?
There is no difference. You have a SIM with a unique ID. It connects to the network with that ID.
I suppose you could pay cash for a pre-pay SIM and then top it up by paying cash for vouchers. That would make it hard (but not impossible) to link you to the SIM.
But it depends on your threat model. From who are you trying to protect your privacy?
I’m not comfortable with carriers knowing and keeping stuff about me for God knows how long.
But you’re fine with WiFi providers doing the same?