Why do we need a new phone network?

The current system is broken for a number of reasons. However, the top three are:

Lack of Privacy and Anonymity
Current mobile networks are run by large corporations that do not value user privacy. In fact, they essentially spy on everything you’re doing and openly sell your personal information to advertisers and others – earning large sums of money in the process. Pollen makes it impossible for anybody to collect, much less sell, your personal data.

Poor Coverage
Despite the advertising and billions of dollars invested in their networks, coverage by legacy carriers is still lacking. Every day calls are dropped in major cities like San Francisco or New York, and many areas of the United States don’t have reliable access to cell service at all. Pollen empowers users to provide coverage where the network is needed, and rewards them for doing so.

High Costs
Legacy carriers spend billions of dollars on buying the rights to radio spectrum signals, national advertising, providing terrible customer service, and on and on, while delivering billions in profits to their shareholders. In fact, the mobile carrier industry in the United States is essentially a three-member oligopoly, leading to some of the highest prices in the world. By utilizing open source technologies and building a decentralized, community-owned, and operated network, Pollen will be able to provide service at lower costs.