I use GrapheneOS and love my privacy. However, I am not as knowledge in regards to simcards.

My family needed to get a new simcard while abroad and I was hesitant to get a new simcard and preferred to ‘hitchhike’ on a family members internet thearing so he could get a simcard instead of me.

It left me with the choice to:

  • Get a Sim card
  • Get an e-sim
  • Let a family member get a simcard and hitchhike from their internet. (Internet hotspot thearing)

My question: Was my worry in vain and I could actually get an e-sim/Sim or did I do it correctly, making someone else get a Sim and share the internet to me? :P

What I’m worried of, is that I’m currently outside EU and I don’t want any weird hacking attempts towards me from the government. There are a lot of protests here, quite violent ones at times too, and I am aware that governments usually use stingrays or equivalent devices to identify or stalk people of interest.

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
    3·
    17 hours ago

    get an anonymous prepaid SIM card. That is what I do: buy one with cash

    Don’t they normally ask for ID? I know in France for example it’s not possible to buy a SIM without presenting an ID first. That wasn’t the case few years ago but not it’s common practice, if not mandatory.

    • monovergent 🛠️@lemmy.ml
      1·
      4 hours ago

      Same in Germany, but thanks to roaming between EU states not incurring extra charges and Netherlands not asking for ID at the time, one could just cross the border to pay in cash, or order a Dutch LycaMobile SIM pseudonymously.

    • Salamander@mander.xyz
      5·
      16 hours ago

      I am not sure about France. When I search online, I often find resources stating “Yes, ID is required”, even for the countries where I know that I have bought SIM cards with cash. Well, the SIM is usually free and what I pay for is the top-up code.

      I would imagine (but I’m not sure) that if you try to buy a SIM card at an airport or at an official store from a large telephony provider you are more likely to get asked for an ID. I find them in shops that have signs with the names of smaller MVNOs. Something like what is shown in this image that I found online, where you can see signs of ‘Lyca Mobile’ and ‘Lebara’:

      But, your mileage may vary. Probably some locations are more strict than others.

        • Salamander@mander.xyz
          2·
          5 hours ago

          That’s a very interesting resource!

          Actually, the countries where I have been able to purchase anonymous SIM cards are in the list “As of 2021, the following countries do not have mandatory SIM card registration laws”. So, it appears like I just happen to have been lucky and I should not make this as such a general recommendation…

          Funny, about Mexico it says:

          Countries expected to implement mandatory SIM registration in 2022: Philippines, Mexico.

          I can at least confirm that I was not asked for ID when buying SIM cards last year in Mexico.

          I just looked it up and found the proposed law for Mexico on Wikipedia. It was struck down in 2022 as unconstitutional.

          So, then, I really have no anecdotes to say that it is easy in places where it is formally illegal.