US privacy-focused MVNO Phreeli just needs your zip code to sign-up

There was a fascinating post published on Wired.com yesterday featuring Nicholas Merrill, founder of Phreeli, a US virtual mobile network focused on privacy (I'm presuming it's an MVNO).

Starting at just $25 per month, you can get unlimited data, unlimited talk/text and unlimited international calling and SMS to 90+ countries... and international roaming in some countries too. And the only thing you need to give in terms of data is your zip or postal code.

Quoting from the Wired article:

It can’t help government agencies or data brokers obtain users’ identifying information because it has almost none to share. The only piece of information the company records about its users when they sign up for a Phreeli phone number is, in fact, a mere ZIP code. That’s the minimum personal data Merrill has determined his company is legally required to keep about its customers for tax purposes.

Often, mobile networks will share information about users/subscribers to data brokers for all sorts of valid (and perhaps, slightly frustrating) purposes. In general, there's not been much you can do about this, especially if the data is aggregated.

Phreeli purposefully doesn't capture any information other than is expressly needed - you can, for example, sign-up with your/an email address if you wish for convenience, so they'd have that. And you can have the SIM card emailed to you - so you'd need to give an address for that. OR you can simply get an eSIM and avoid disclosing this.

The price plans are pretty competitive:

I will watch this with interest!

If you'd like to know more, visit www.phreeli.com.