Which Google free phone?

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time.android.com (Google server) is the NTP server by default. Maybe it could be pool.ntp.org. This is an automatic connection. Android does not need that. Due to NITZ it has data and time automatically (without internet):
NITZ - Wikipedia

On the other hand, connectivitycheck.gstatic.com, google.com and play.googleapis (Google servers) are in GrapheneOS web page:
Frequently Asked Questions | GrapheneOS
HTTPS: https://www.google.com/generate_204
HTTP: http://connectivitycheck.gstatic.com/generate_204
HTTP fallback: http://www.google.com/gen_204
HTTP other fallback: http://play.googleapis.com/generate_204

As for the Open source, GrapheneOS does not have libre drivers (the same than LineageOS) Only Replicant has open source drivers. Due to that it is the only Android ROM recommended by the Free Software Foundation.

Regarding baseband it is completely privative (and necessary) and even with mitigations by software it is operational. The only way is by hardware (like Librem does, with switches that can control it partially)

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Regarding baseband it is completely privative (and necessary) and even with mitigations by software it is operational. The only way is by hardware (like Librem does, with switches that can control it partially)

Activating airplane mode will fully disable the cellular radio transmit and receive capabilities, which will prevent your phone from being reached from the cellular network and stop your carrier (and anyone impersonating them to you) from tracking the device via the cellular radio

The hardware switch on Librem is useless. It disable your celluar like GrapheneOS but disable it, mean you canā€™t use it at all. So it doesnā€™t provide any further improvement. The Pixel phone for example isolate the baseband to other components, which the Librem hasnā€™t.

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Precisely, hardware isolation will be always more effective than by software.
Switching something off (hardware) is more reliable than disabling it (software)

Remember that when you put airplane mode Wifi and GPS are still here (3 components in baseband)
What is more, ENEAā€™s OSE (baseband privative OS) is still running and operational.

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Given that the original question is about a Google-free experience, thereā€™s this article by Hans re privacy which they might find helpful.

  • Why not use Tor (highest security level) and/or i2p for as much as possible, the Tor nodes seem pretty robust these days and can handle a fair amount of traffic.
  • Maybe a firewall for apps youā€™re unsure about too.
  • Nextcloud for open-source, encrypted data-syncing across your devices,
  • Depending on how far you need to go, thereā€™s Tails operating system that doesnā€™t write any info to the hard disk (for desktop computers).
  • For devices that you donā€™t need connected to the net, physically remove the networking hardware.
  • The above is just what I could come up with in this moment but Iā€™m sure thereā€™s others that Iā€™ve missed.
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