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Nick vs Networking
Personal blog · nickvsnetworking.comsystems
Nick vs Networking is a personal blog at nickvsnetworking.com about systems. Since 2023, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times, most often “The time Bell Labs brought the Statue of Liberty under its roof (literally)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog's posts on mobile network and telecom internals, such as the VoLTE rollout, flash SMS messages and cellular security, to explain how the systems work.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- The time Bell Labs brought the Statue of Liberty under its roof (literally)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-04-04
- Somebody's watching me – Adventures in Cellular Location services2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-03-25
What Hacker News says?
112 is an emergency number "by specification", it will always work (on GSM/UMTS/Vo LTE networks, NOT on landlines )), no matter what country you're in. I think this also applies to 911, although I'm not 100% sure about this. Numbers like 000 are a different matter, there are scenarios in which they might not work even if you're in Australia (when you have a non-australian SIM or no SIM at all, for example). For more…
Comment linking /tales-from-the-trenches-emergency-calling-when-roaming/
on “Mastercard DNS error went unnoticed for years”Submitted Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength as a story · 439 points
HN discussionYes, circuit switched fallback was possible for a time (LTE data and circuit-switched 2G or 3G voice). I think 3GPP shouldn't have written that into the spec in the first place, but you know what they say about hindsight.... The whole saga with VoLTE was really quite entertaining: https://nickvsnetworking.com/background-to-the-volte-mess/
Comment linking /background-to-the-volte-mess/
on “GrapheneOS Overhauled Default Apps and Secure Clipboard”Submitted The Surprisingly Complicated World of SMS: Emoji SMS Reactions as a story · 18 points
HN discussionOne thing I absolutely don't understand about telecom security is how, in 2025, we're still using pre-shared keys in our mobile phone standards. RSA and Diffie Hellman[1] have existed for decades, so have CA systems, yet SIM cards are still provisioned with a pre-shared key that only the card and the operator knows, and all further authentication and encryption is based on that key[2]. If the operator is ever hacked…
Comment linking /hss-usim-authentication-in-lte-nr-4g-5g/
on “The insecurity of telecom stacks in the wake of Salt Typhoon”Submitted 3G at Last as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWindows 11 24H2 enabled BitLocker full disk encryption by default for all new installations (including OEM) after a user has logged in with a Microsoft Account.[1] By default the BitLocker "recovery key" (everything one needs to decrypt a BitLocker device) is surrendered to Microsoft (uploaded automatically for storage with the associated Microsoft Account). This situation is similar to the Clipper chip[2] or Ki key…
Comment linking /transport-keys-a4-k4-keys-in-epc-5gc-networks/
on “Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account”Submitted Adventures in Cellular Location Services as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe cheapest noname 4G USB stick you can buy now probably has a Qualcomm MSM8916 in it, and runs, I shit you not, Android. You're not wrong, see also [1]. > and Qualcomm wouldn't even want to talk to you unless you are at least "MOQ 100000+" These[2,3,4] definitely aren't MoQ "100000+" (I know this market), and yet they have gotten their hands on Android chipsets somehow, [2] even includes a cellular modem. Not chea…
Comment linking /adventures-with-a-10-lte-mifi-dongle/
on “Tactility: An ESP32 OS”Submitted Somebody's watching me – Adventures in Cellular Location services as a story · 2 points
HN discussion> unblockable "system message" This is a "flash SMS" message: https://nickvsnetworking.com/flash-sms-messages/
Comment linking /flash-sms-messages/
on “Three men are facing 44 charges in Toronto SMS Blaster Arrests”Submitted The time Bell Labs brought the Statue of Liberty under its roof (literally) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The time Bell Labs brought the Statue of Liberty under its roof (Literally) as a story · 2 points
HN discussion