Good points* with which I agree. None of the stuff I do is 'cloak and dagger' so leakage of that info doesn't matter. My only aim is to minimize the data Google siphons from one's phone—information that I believe has been unfairly obtained by Google because of its market monopoly and the fact that it's effectively usurped the phone network for its own benefit.

I am in no doubt that the moment a SIM is inserted into a phone and it's switched on that the activities you've outlined happen—and all that gear you've mentioned then "has your everything in the database". For my purposes, that all that gear has soaked up info is essentially irrelevant (as it's going to happen anyway the first time one makes a call).

If I was being rigorous (or up to some nefarious mischief) and did not want any of that data to leak (at least until I was ready) then I'd disconnect the phone's antenna and/or conduct the work within a Faraday cage to stop the the radiation. Also, there are other details and steps I'd take but I'll deliberately refrain from mentioning them.

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* "I'm pulling these all out of my curious nerd memory so lots might be missing, outdated or unbalanced."

Ha, right. Then even if you're not fluent, I reckon you'll be familiar with all those books/standards that deal with such matters—ones that just about put Encyclopaedia Britannica to shame. Seems to me no normal human (even propeller-head nerds) could retain all that detail. :-)