this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A no gifts agreement. You get nothing, I get nothing, we all save money and some sanity while not feeding the system by collectively buying a ton of unnecessary stuff at double the prices.

But anyway, if I wanted something, a Mullvad voucher would be useful.
Something cool, but mostly just a toy, an external eUICC chip, "eSIM adapter". Either JMP because their app is open-source and on F-Droid, or 9esim because it's far cheaper and has more storage. But as I said, it's not something I need, mostly would serve me as a toy and I'd have a bunch of random foreign eSIM profiles. There's even some free eSIMs like Firsty Free that I'd like to try. They promise "basic speed" unlimited data access with a time limit for watching ads. But there's also some like BNESIM which have no expiration and some usable prepaid data amount.
My current phone doesn't support eSIMs natively, but seems to support the required OMAPI to make this work.

ThinkPad Thales card would be far cheaper, and probably work too (with EasyLPAC), but it's out of stock everywhere.

But again, not something I need, just something for fun.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

What are you doing with all that phone stuff? I thought we're using the internet these days instead of calling people. Or do you just travel much and need the data plans for different countries/continents?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What are you doing with all that phone stuff?

Nothing, I don't have any.

I thought we’re using the internet these days instead of calling that much.

A lot of cheap eSIMs are actually data-only, i.e.: you don't get a phone number.

Or do you just travel much and need the data plans for different countries/continents?

No, not at all. I just get interested in random crap, and now it's SIM cards it seems. Either way, some of these manage to be cheaper than many local offers, or even completely free as I mentioned.

Another thing is some countries, unlike mine, don't require ID verification. So no scanning of your ID card, scanning your face, or perhaps physically sending signed documents via mail and waiting 3 - 5 business days to get your SIM card activated like I had to do with my carrier. e-mail should be enough. This way, phone numbers can be as disposable as e-mail addresses which is just awesome when using some untrusted services that want your phone number.

Lastly, coverage. I already purchased T-Mobile physical SIM from Czech Republic (and yay it works). T-Mobile seems to try to get as many roaming partners as possible in every country. In mine, that's 3 out of 4, and 4th one is my main carrier. So I can connect to every carrier in my country with these 2 SIMs. I just find that pretty cool.
I told you, I get interested by random crap.

Next on my list is GiffGaff (United Kingdom) which I can get for free shipped anywhere in Europe and can also be activated from abroad (as far as I can tell) like that T-Mobile card.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Fair enough. I mean the "because I can" argument is valid. At least in my eyes. I wish I had like 4 or 5 more phone numbers available to sign up on various platforms. Maybe I should collect some phone numbers, too. Or like 50 and I'd start my own temp-number.com service.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Seems that way. I mean each Google, Claude, Discord, Instagram, ... account might require a phone number for "verification" these days. I thought about getting 4 more phones myself.