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Comment by perryizgr8 | Hacker News Reader

> 3/4/5G phones will always drop back to 2G if it sees a 2G service whilst 3/4/5G frequencies are jammed.

This is not always true. For example, Jio is an LTE-only network and phones are set to "LTE only". They will never switch to 3g/2g.

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That’s one reasonably obscure network. As far as I can tell it’s Indian - if memory serves that country has no cryptography on their gsm networks and can demand keys at will. Even blackberry gave them access to their secure network.

And if the state has access, you’re one social engineering step away from the keys to the kingdom shrug

I think GSM security is less relevant than ever, specially in India. More and more people are using Whatsapp and Messenger instead of voice calls. SMS is literally non-existent. Since Whatsapp is end to end encrypted, the carrier/govt simply cannot look at the contents.

PS: I wonder why you'd call one of the world's largest LTE networks "obscure". Number of Jio users is probably comparable to entire population of USA.

> Jio, obscure to the western world, where Vodafone, T-mobile, Telefonica, and AT&T are fairly well known across the world. I get it’s the third largest carrier but is only serving the one country.

> GSM security, is everything. Getting the metadata of who you are and where you are, and being able to capture that passively is pretty sensitive metadata, I’m sure you’d agree.

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