Living without a SIM card
habd.as
Living without a SIM card
1–10 of 300 posts
Re: Living without a SIM card
#2Still feeling the need to share your entire life on the HN. Good job!
Re: Living without a SIM card
#3Not trolling: How does your life feel different knowing your data is not being stored in some database?
Losing out on all those conveniences sounds miserable to me.
Re: Living without a SIM card
#4When I travel overseas, if I can’t get a cheap SIM and data plan, I’m living for days trying to find public WiFi.
Colombia has lots of free WiFi in parks, for example. We should be doing this everywhere.
Re: Living without a SIM card
#5Not trolling: How does your life feel different knowing your data is not being stored in some database? Losing out on all those conveniences sounds miserable to me.
It's called peace of mind. Some people worry about their privacy being violated. Without the sim, there is less tracking, so less to worry about.
Re: Living without a SIM card
#6If saving money is the reason, go for a prepaid card. German/Dutch prepaid cards have far long credit life. I travel full-time nowadays and I can use my KPN number for less than €1 per year.
German Alditalk credit lasts 24 months IIRC, and topping up extends the credit shelf life.
Pretty much every SIM card has free incoming SMS when roaming. USSD are also free with some carriers.
Losing SIM card is less of a hassle with eSIMs.
Perhaps other than tracking concerns, I'm totally not convinced with the reasoning.
Re: Living without a SIM card
#7use tor, brave, vpn whatever.
use prepaid unregistered sim.
get online when you want, live :-)
or just cut off you leg to fix your toe.
Re: Living without a SIM card
#8So you freed yourself of the hassle of paying for a SIM, but constantly rely on others who have a SIM to get around?
German Freenet Funk offers one-day-one-euro prepaid SIM; you can cancel any day.
Satellite.me gives you a German mobile number through an app for free (SMS support is in alpha, though).
Re: Living without a SIM card
#9Some of the inconveniences listed aren't really a thing: For example, you can use google services on devices with no sim so long as you have it connected to wifi. I figured this out because i had a new phone that wouldn't accept the SIM size, so I carried both that and the working phone with the sim for a short time. Google Maps and Open street maps works offline, but you need to be online to, say, get driving directions. Google will still give turn-by-turn directions offline, though. It simply won't have the same features of your choice of maps.
I think facebook still works so long as you have signed up from a computer, but I might be wrong. I've only considered having it on my tablet (that has never had a sim), but never bothered to install it on my phone.
So many things depend more on the device being on the internet (through whatever means) than having the sim card. The main thing you need it for is phone calls, SMS, and roaming internet - and sometimes, banking, but not always. I've realized this because my phone has roaming internet turned off by defaut - I use wifi as my primary phone internet and as it turns out, I pay minimal amounts for the phone (I'm not willing to go without, even though it is rarely used).
Re: Living without a SIM card
#10> …it's the only thing which has prevented me from having to continually make international calls from a friends phone
By relying on other people it is possible to do without many things.
However, unless you have other ways of signaling sufficient status or wealth (such as being a digital nomad living abroad in a lower income country), people you continuously rely on for essentials might start treating you with a little less respect.