From quick research, it certainly seems to be the preferred alternative. It’s been around for quite awhile and look to have a legit business model. I also found an open source app that looks decent.

AnymeX

I feel ya. It’s crazy easy. I was surprised. Then, just wardrive. 😊

Fwiw: I’ve been using a Verizon locked one without ever activating the sim. It works just fine as a Rayhunter. It just doesn’t work as a hotspot.

I’ve been happily using mLauncher. It’s about as minimal as they come. I’ve got zero on my screens. https://github.com/DroidWorksStudio/mLauncher

Robosats used to have gift cards as an option. Not sure anymore. It’s been awhile.

In English: Link

To add to this, “Kvaesitso is available in the official F-Droid repository, but all features depending on non-foss external APIs were removed.” This is preferable to a lot of people.