A Ting customer support rep suggested that I post to this forum, so here goes.

I own two unlocked Essential PH-1 phones, purchased directly from Essential, that use Ting's CDMA (Sprint / Boost Mobile) service. They have still not received Essential's build NMJ88C, which was released on Jan. 5 and fixes the Meltdown/Specter problem. Every day, I go through Android's "check for update" routine and am told that my phones are up-to-date with build NMJ32F, released Nov. 11 of last year.

I read that most PH-1 owners have received NMJ88C by now, but not those with Sprint service -- because Sprint is still diddling. Ting's customer support rep agrees: Ting has not received NMJ88C from Sprint, and therefore can't push it out.

I don't mind not receiving the latest bells and whistles for a while, but patches for urgent security problems are another story. If Sprint is going to leave its (indirect) customers twisting in the wind on important stuff like this, then I need to find another option.

Unfortunately, Ting's GSM won't work for me: T-Mobile has lousy coverage where I need it the most. And I refuse to burn countless hours of my life doing experimental sideloads every time an issue like this comes up. So, I seem to be left with three plausible options:

Find a provider with a CDMA carrier that takes serious problems seriously, or Find a provider with a GSM carrier that has coverage where I need it AND takes serious problems seriously, or Dump Android and buy iPhones.

So, my feature request is one that Ting cannot fulfill (although a call from Ting's CEO to Sprint's and Google's CEOs might not hurt): A system that allows urgent Android updates to happen immediately, just as soon as manufacturers make them available.