One of the few specs not listed, but an important one, especially in terms of figuring out who the heck is making this thing.
What network does Trump Mobile run on?
The Trump Mobile press release claims that it works with “all three major carriers,” presumably meaning AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. None of the big three responded to an inquiry about the nature of their arrangement with Trump Mobile. The company’s terms-of-use page mentions only that Trumpmobile.com is “powered by Liberty Mobile Wireless LLC.” In fact, Trump Mobile’s entire “Unauthorized Use of Plans With Unlimited Services” section is copied verbatim from Liberty Mobile’s terms of use, substituting “Trumpmobile.com” for “Liberty Mobile” throughout.
It’s all extremely unclear right now what you’ll actually be getting from Trump Mobile. Liberty Mobile appears to only offer 4G LTE connectivity at best, so if that is Trump Mobile’s sole provider, as stated in its terms of use, it’s unclear whether it can live up to its claims of 5G speeds. It’s also possible that Liberty Mobile is an innocent bystander here, and Trump Mobile just borrowed its terms-of-use section.
Confusing things even further, Trump Mobile’s coverage map appears to be an embed of the coverage map created by Ultra Mobile, an MVNO that’s owned by T-Mobile and runs on T-Mobile’s 5G network.
Liberty Mobile did not respond to a request for comment, and the company’s FAQ page comprises only placeholder text. Ultra Mobile did not respond to a request for comment.
Is Trump Mobile woke?
As others have pointed out on social media, the Trump Mobile coverage map clearly identifies the Gulf of Mexico rather than Donald Trump’s preferred “Gulf of America” nomenclature. The Trump administration has banned the Associated Press from White House press briefings due to the latter’s refusal to use the name Gulf of America. Although again, this is because it is Ultra Mobile’s map to begin with.
Can the T1 smartphone really offer “biometric scanning”?
One of the surprising listed benefits of the T1 smartphone is “biometric scanning,” with contactless blood pressure and heart-rate monitoring. This appears to be tied to the “LifeVitals” feature offered by the Doctegrity app. In fact, the extent of Trump Media’s telehealth offering appears to be through the Doctegrity app, which can also be used with any other current smartphone. Individual Doctegrity plans start at $29 per month, so if that’s included in the $47.45 Trump Mobile plan, that’s a darn good deal. If you have to pay the fee anyway, it’s not really clear what Trump Mobile is promoting here.
Doctegrity did not respond to a request for comment.
Will Trump’s proposed smartphone tariffs apply to Trump Mobile?
Donald Trump has threatened a 25 percent tariff on all smartphones that aren’t manufactured in the United States, coming as early as this month. A customer service representative told WIRED that Trump Mobile’s phone would not be affected, but that’s hard to square with the seeming acknowledgment from Trump’s sons that this phone will be manufactured overseas, at least at first.
What is up with that privacy policy?
Trump Mobile’s privacy policy allows it to collect data from your searches, web browsing, device, and location for its “AI systems.” It also says it has collected (past tense) “complete account credentials” and “mail, email, or text message contents” over the past 12 months. None of this language is original to Trump Mobile; the credential bit appears to be borrowed from the Trump Organization, while the data collection section also appears verbatim on the privacy policies of companies including Neuro-Somatic Intelligence and Lumifi.
The fact that these sections are copypasta, though, doesn’t make them any less invasive.
Can you get a refund?
Actually we know the answer to this one, again compliments of the Trump Mobile terms of use: No, you absolutely cannot.
Additional reporting by Julian Chokkattu.
