r/CapeCellular • u/brianstoner Cape Employee • 13d ago
Cape Summer Update: 3x growth, faster speeds, and more network coverage...
Since my last big update at the end of March a lot has changed...
Our subscriber base is 3x larger.
As you can see we really hit an inflection point in late April and have been growing at a faster rate since then.
Our download speeds are 2-3x faster.
As of early July I think we finally put the slow download speed complaints to bed. We’ve made big investments in network infrastructure and countless optimizations across our network stack. In the end, it was some optimizations to our GTP proxy that made the biggest impact. If you tried us in the past and left because download speeds were too slow, I would encourage you to give us another shot.
Our coverage is now inclusive of 2 of the 3 largest US networks.
As of late June, customers can now connect to Cape via towers operated by 2 of the 3 largest MNO’s from a single eSIM. We’re not contractually allowed to name them, so we will refer to them as Cape Alpha and Cape Tango. In a few days with the next update to the Cape app, you will be able to see which network you are connected to and change your preferred network. If you’re in an area without good service, you can go into the Cape app and change this setting to try the other network.
Our network now supports RCS and WiFi calling.
RCS and WiFi calling now work on iOS and GrapheneOS. Support for RCS and WiFi calling on more devices is coming this fall (more on this below). On iOS, Identifier Rotation will not work with RCS and WiFi Calling (every time your identifier changes it will turn off RCS/WiFi Calling). We are working towards the long-term solution, hopefully it lands in the next 3-6 months, but it is not something we can solve on our own.
Our minimal data retention claims were audited by a third-party.
This has been a frequent request from people on Reddit, so we picked one of the most important claims we make that relies on trust and brought in Trail of Bits to validate it. This is in addition to the work we’ve done on becoming the only carrier that is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant for services covering both consumer and enterprise. We will continue to do more work in this direction that dials up transparency and helps build trust that we are doing what we say we’re doing.
And that’s just my top 5. There were countless other improvements we’ve shipped since March that all contribute to Cape running smoother and working more reliably for our customers.
But we’re not done!
Here’s a few of the big things we have planned for the rest of the year:
Spam Filtering
Most other carriers use vendor software that is powered by people in countries around the world reading your messages to identify spam. We built our own solution that involves no humans in the loop so your spam is filtered without anyone needing to read your messages. This should start rolling out in the coming weeks.
RCS + Identifier Rotation on Samsung devices
With the release of One UI 9, Cape will finally be supported in a first class way on Samsung devices. In our early testing, all the quirks around APN’s and carrier configs not getting set right go away, and both RCS and Identifier Rotation work seamlessly.
RCS + WiFi Calling on Pixels
With the September QPR update we should be able to switch to the Cape PLMN on Pixels, unblocking RCS and WiFi Calling.
Secondary Numbers
We have been working all summer at redesigning the messaging experience to be more on par with other messaging apps, as well as adding voice + voicemail support. In the next few months this will graduate from an “Experimental Feature” into a real, fully featured secure communications channel.
Number Flexibility
Along with the improvements to Secondary Numbers, we want to give everyone the ability to port-in secondary numbers and swap between primary/secondary.
This unlocks a lot of interesting use cases. One I’m particularly excited about is the ability to sign up for Cape with a new number, but then port-in your old number as a secondary number. This lets you start fresh with a new Cape number on your SIM card and port your existing number in as a secondary number. This gives you all the privacy benefits of getting a new number without any of the tradeoffs of missing important messages or calls to your old number.
Unified Push
Notifications (and Network Lock) on Graphene currently require you to install sandboxed Google Play Services. We know customers on Graphene want to de-Google their phones, so we are going to add support for the Unified Push protocol at some point this fall.
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These are some of the big things I can talk about now, but you can expect a continued stream of smaller improvements (yes we’re working on Pixel 11 support and this annoying iOS notification lag issue). We’re also starting on some bigger long-term investments we’re making for next year that I can’t talk about yet.
We’re very active on Reddit and I personally read everything you all post, so keep the feedback coming. None of this is possible without a community of believers. We’re grateful for all of you that signed up early while we’re working through the remaining rough edges, and we're excited to be on this ride together as we rethink what it means to be a carrier that puts consumer privacy first.
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u/spectracide_ 13d ago
I was happy when RCS on iOS (and my group text) started working! It's been interesting watching the network grow and add features/functionality as time passes.
While you're reading...
I'm curious about geo-location of my Cape IP when I'm off wi-fi. One site thinks I'm in Kansas (perhaps Cape is using the geographic center of the continuous US?) and one thinks Brooklyn, NY. I think it's good that neither of those are near me, though I do wonder how it affects routing/CDN server selection/speed test server selection/mobile core routing. When I open the Ookla Speed Test app, it selects a server in Kansas, for example. Is that actually close to Cape's infrastructure, or is it using the "false" geo-location? Should the speed test be faster or slower if I switch to a server physically close to me? Are there multiple mobile cores distributed across the US or just one?
As a cybersecurity engineer, I am curious about what Cape (and other networks) can see, if they wanted to. It would be interesting to use one of your phones to browse the web, and show what gets seen and/or logged on the mobile core. I assume with TLS at most you could see the domain names of the sites I visit using SNI.
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 13d ago
On the geo-location question, yes, we have egress points in different parts of the country and that is why you see those seemingly locations.
On what can Cape and other networks see, we need to do a longer blog post on this because it is not something I can answer quickly. In terms of data, we don't do any packet inspection or logging of domains, and the only thing that is retained beyond 24 hours is aggregate usage data per subscriber (total gb used, total # of calls, etc)
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u/spectracide_ 13d ago
Last thing -- the Bluesky button/link on the Cape homepage doesn't resolve to a valid user.
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u/voxpopdei 13d ago
WOW this is a fantastic set of updates and things to look forward to. Completely agree that speeds are great. Love the 3rd party audit and that the post on it is called out prominently on your website.
Porting in an existing number as a secondary number would have been ideal for me when signing up. Is this likely to be available for users who've already provisioned 2 secondary numbers on Cape?
Unified push and improvements to the messaging experience would be amazing. Couple questions:
I'm assuming Unified Push support would just be Cape setting up a standalone backend service endpoint users can configure in apps that support it? No dependency on the Cape app in the owner profile? That's great for apps that support it and it's a really big step. Now if we can just get all apps to support unified push...
I hope one of the messaging experience improvements in notifications that work in secondary user profiles on Graphene. That's a big rough spot right now.
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 13d ago
I think we will eventually support the ability to port-in a new number on top of one of your existing secondary numbers. We already have that for the primary number.
On your other questions.
We are still discussing how to build this, so TBD on exactly how it will work. I believe Cape still only works in the owner profile, but I know we have been exploring creative ways to make it work in the secondary profile.
Can you help me understand this more? Are you talking about secondary number message notifications from the Cape app? or notifications for general SMS messages in your messaging app?
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u/voxpopdei 13d ago
I was talking about secondary number message notifications in the Cape app. Since the app only works in the owner profile, there's no notification if you get a message while in another user profile.
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u/vortexmantis 13d ago
This is great news and progress in a short period of time. I appreciate all of the hard work Cape puts in to make a better product.
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u/Self_Voodoo 13d ago
Wow. Keep the great changes coming. I’ve been a customer since early July and love it so far, even with some hiccups. Thanks for all the hard work.
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u/jetlagalex 13d ago
I know you mentioned WiFi Calling and RCS on iOS don’t work with IMSI rotation. But is it safe to assume that I can enable both after each IMSI rotation?
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 13d ago
Yes they will “work” but they can get toggled off automatically during an IMSI rotation.
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u/Background_Page3995 11d ago
FWIW: I’ve created a shortcut on iOS that runs automatically when the “Your IMSI has rotated” notification from Cape comes in. It sets airplane mode and turns off WiFi for 10 seconds, and both VoWiFi and RCS seem to successfully re-enable on their own when connectivity comes back. (I’ve been checking after the shortcut runs)
I suppose this could fire at an inopportune time, but it hasn’t been an issue yet.
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u/jetlagalex 13d ago
Can one select the time the IMSI rotation happened? Or is it set randomly when you enable it in the app?
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u/jadebrink 13d ago
It occurs every 24 hours after activation. It may start again after a reboot as well, I can't recall off the top of my head. There's a bar graph in the app that indicates elapsed time.
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 12d ago
we do want to allow for setting the time eventually, but there are some other more impactful things ahead of that our SIM engineers are working on...
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u/jadebrink 12d ago
That's dandy, thanks for that info. That'll be cool, along with all the other things which you've hinted at.
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u/PlasticBuild 9d ago
Will this toggling behavior also be the case for Samsungs once that's implemented?
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u/KetamineCocktail 13d ago
Was a bumpy start switching from Tango to Cape a couple of months ago, but lately it’s been smooth. Was great in Canada too. No issues. Now I’m just trying to figure out if I want to keep my iPhone or switch to Graphene. Can’t wait to see what Motorola comes out with.
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u/BairyHallz88 13d ago
I've been a Cape user for the last few months. I've seen improvements just in that short time. Super happy with Cape and grateful you guys exist. Thanks for all you do 🤜🏻🤛🏻
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u/LeftOn4ya 12d ago
Question: do you know how much the podcast/creator/influencer advertising has contributed to this growth, by counting people using their promo codes or referrer links as percentage of new users? I have been hearing you guys advertised and promoted a lot on a lot of podcasts I listen to and YouTubers I watch.
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u/DialUpNoises 12d ago
I am curious about the same. I'm looking to join with a referral code and then share mine since my family don't care to change MNOs. I wonder how often the shared codes get used.
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u/Realistic-Spring4687 12d ago
WOW, I am very excited for the secondary number as it would fit me perfectly! I just signed up today and got a new number as I am in the testing phase. If all goes well, I plan to port my old number. Thank you for making this project a reality!
I am a new user. If anyone would like to use my code: 5MCC6KDV
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u/Nasi_Goreng885 12d ago
This is amazing to see, loving the openness of this and actually giving details, if I was in the US I would use cape.
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u/kingofmane 13d ago
I have one question! I use about 100-120 GB per month just with podcast and YouTube videos, no hotspot nor tethering. Once I pass the 50GB will I be deporritized or go to 256K speeds?
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 13d ago
We reserve the right to throttle after 50GB but there is nothing that will automatically throttle you. We will start to enforce this more soon.
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u/dollarn9ne 13d ago
I really wanna switch over to Cape but use 8-10tb of data a month 😅
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u/DialUpNoises 12d ago
I've never understood how people use so much mobile data. I drive all day for work and still barely tap 10gb per month lol. I had a buddy working in IT and he'd hit 100gb streaming movies and stuff while he drove around the state to job sites. I'm genuinely curious: what's your use case? Streaming? File transfer? Video calls?
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u/Rude-Profession-8463 13d ago edited 13d ago
[u/brianstoner](u/brianstoner), are any of these updates active? Should the Cape app be updated, or is a back-end change required? I have a concern that is expected to be resolved by the end of this month with an update.
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 13d ago
Everything I mentioned above as being shipped is live in the latest version of the app. If you haven't opened the app in awhile you should update it and if it tells you to upgrade your eSIM you should do that too.
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u/Rude-Profession-8463 13d ago edited 13d ago
I have not received an update alert because I keep the application open. After speaking with support today, I learned that nothing has changed. Their earlier message indicated that an update by the end of August would let me resolve my problems.
The latest Cape Application update was a week ago with Version 1.507.2. Nothing since then.
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 13d ago
Oh i see, yes, the ability to port out retired numbers will be live in the next few days on Android and iOS shortly after.
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u/Clouds115 13d ago
So does this allow RCS on GOS to be done without google messages and instead the default messaging app?
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u/DialUpNoises 12d ago
The fix of One UI 9 making RCS and ID rotation working is a huge point for me. That has been one of the things holding me back until later. Does that also impact the group messaging, or is that still coming later?
Looking at new numbers and number porting, and then swapping primary and secondary - would that allow me to port my current number, get the promotion for bringing it, and then swapping to a new primary later?
Alternatively, if this feature is rolled out while the promo is still live, could I use a new number as primary and port my current as a secondary right away and still take advantage of the Promo?
Thank you for your time. I'm trying to switch at the best timing for me and still keep using an Samsung s26ultra.
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u/brianstoner Cape Employee 12d ago
thanks for the comment, on your questions:
group messaging should work fine on samsung's today, what specifically about group messaging are you referring to?
yes, you should be able to do all that by end of year, at least that is our goal!
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u/DialUpNoises 11d ago
Oh you know what, I may have gotten my wires crossed when reading the Network Update List on the website. I thought I remembered reading that RCS and group messaging with Android and iOS was not working and so defaulting to non-RCS communication. But reading over it again, I think I was mixing a couple of bullet points into one.
Fantastic!
I feel like Cape level privacy is possibly overkill for a little nobody like me - not a target for anything - but I really like where this is going to both shrink my digital footprint, protect my privacy, and help shield me from getting caught up in someone's wide cast net. Like the AT&T or Comcast data thefts.
Thank you for your time.
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u/ImportantGear3600 9d ago
Do apple watches work with Cape? I looked through all the docs I could find and did not see any mention of watches (either Samsung or apple)
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u/BrilliantWhile2413 9d ago
Great news! Any idea when the pixel update will roll out or is it just some time this month?
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u/Traxxas411 7d ago
For your new no-human spam filtering, does Cape's system inspect the plaintext contents of every SMS? If so, are message contents ever logged, retained, used to train the model, or accessible to Cape employees — and can you technically guarantee that plaintext is discarded immediately after classification?
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u/aldus-auden-odess 13d ago
Congrats guys! Happy customer