When we set out to build Unplugged, we were responding to a deterioration in human freedom around the world. We approached the market with a clear-cut philosophy and point of view: Surveillance capitalism is not good for humanity.
Your words, photos, files, finances, and every intimate detail of your life aren't gold for businesses, governments, or predators to mine and sell. They belong to you.
Our clarity about the principles for which we stand has been rewarded with exceptional early interest in the marketplace and some strong early allies joining forces with us. Major voices on the national and even international stage have taken notice or even become enamored with the product and helped us promote it.
Patriot Mobile is one of those early allies who caught the vision, took an interest and reached out to help. They gave of their time and their expertise. They opened their trade show and convention booths to our participation at multiple events, saving us both expense in time and in money. They also helped close our knowledge gap in specific aspects of the consumer mobile devices and services market.
The founder and CEO of Patriot Mobile, Glenn Story, and our co-founder Erik Prince were both invited with two other founders within the parallel economy to share the stage for a panel at a major conference Washington, D.C. Fittingly, the discussion revolved around building a parallel economy to give everyday people options outside of the big technology oligopolies.
Patriot Mobile set forth five foundational values that reflect their conservative, Christian worldview; 1) Integrity, 2) Inspiration, 3) Servanthood, 4) Courage and 5) Stewardship. These become the guiding principles for how they conduct their nationwide cellular service business in the marketplace, and how they treat their customers.
Patriot's overall mission is to passionately “defend our God-given rights and freedoms.” They do that by giving to organizations that protect America’s freedoms and focus on four pillars: 1) First Amendment, 2) Second Amendment, 3) Sanctity of Life, and 4) Military, Veterans and First Responders. From their founding 11 years ago, Patriot Mobile has been the tip of the spear in establishing a parallel economy.
Patriot Mobile values collage
At Unplugged, we believe most humans want privacy and every human deserves privacy. It is our mission to help our customers protect their privacy. Our team is made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and those who profess no faith tradition at all. Given the visibility of our co-founder Erik Prince, and his highly public involvement in conservative, political circles, it may surprise some of our customers and prospective customers that our team is comprised of people from the left, the right and the center of the political spectrum.
What unites us all is the clarity of purpose around this idea that everyone deserves privacy, and the free speech and other freedoms that are entwined with privacy, regardless of their nationality, race, gender or political persuasion.
Our job is to popularize the value and essentialness of privacy as an individual right, and then to make it convenient to implement and enjoy. Patriot Mobile supports this mission, and we support many of their goals as well.
Unplugged software, apps and the UP Phone are operable on the large T-Mobile and AT&T wireless networks and their MVNOs in the United States and are supported by Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility, Bell Mobility and other wireless networks in Canada.
Patriot Mobile is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). You can purchase the UP Phone directly from Patriot Mobile here.
Our products are compatible with many different MVNOs (literally dozens in the United States alone). Our relationship with Patriot Mobile is not exclusive, and we will highlight other key alliances from time to time. Nevertheless, we make a special shoutout to our friends at Patriot Mobile, who have been champions of our efforts to restore digital sanity and privacy around the world.
Theron Harmon, CMO
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