What network does it work on? It lists a lot of numbers and letters, but never says whether it is GSM or CDMA phone. Can it be used on either depending on the Sim card? Do you have to program it to use a certain network. Lot of unanswered question on the website. Also know real info or examples of the PureOs operating system. Is it Linux based? Is the user interface similar to any of the major OSs people are used to?
It is a GNU+Linux OS.
The Librem 5 is an open network phone, not locked to any particular network.
There are 2 possible modem choices:
- Option 1 is Gemalto’s PLS8. Two variants are considered, PLS8-E and PLS8-US.
- Option 2 is BroadMobi BM818. Also two variants are considered, BM818-E1 and BM818-A1.
Here’s the detailed list of bands supported:
Gemalto PLS8 BroadMobi BM818 Standard Frequency/Band PLS8-E PLS8-US BM818-E1 BM818-A1 GSM/GPRS/EDGE GSM 850MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ EGSM 900MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ DCS 1800MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ PCS 1900MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ HSPA+/WCDMA B1 2100MHz ✔ ✔ B2 1900MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ B3 1800MHz ✔ B4 1700MHz ✔ ✔ B5 850MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ B8 900MHz ✔ ✔ LTE-FDD B1 2100MHz ✔ ✔ B2 1900MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ B3 1800MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ B4 1700MHz ✔ ✔ B5 850MHz ✔ ✔ ✔ B7 2600MHz ✔ ✔ B8 900MHz ✔ ✔ B12 700MHz ✔ B13 700MHz ✔ B17 700MHz ✔ ✔ B20 800MHz ✔ ✔ B25 1900MHz ✔ B26 850MHz ✔ B66 1700MHz ✔ TDD-LTE B38 2600MHz ✔ B40 2300MHz ✔ B41 2500MHz ✔ ✔ Using frequencycheck.com, you can find your carrier under your country to see which bands are supported by them. However, keep in mind that not all of these bands may be available in your area.
To find out which LTE bands are available from cell towers in your area, you can look at cellmapper.net. Additionally, if you call your carrier they may tell you which LTE bands are available in your area but they also may not divulge this information.
Note that some carriers do not allow devices on their networks unless devices are approved by themselves.