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Living without a SIM card

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Re: Living without a SIM card

#41

Post by kwhitefoot »

pjc50 wrote: post #25
torh wrote: post #19

Without a SIM card it would be a lot harder to do my taxes, access my online bank, check my insurance, etc., because the SIM card is used to veriy my identity using a solution called BankID. ( https://www.bankid.no/en/company/ ) It's a lot easier then the alternative with OTP codes, especially since BankID is now supported by a lot of different sites and services. From government, banking, phone companies, etc.

How has Norway solved the "slamming" problem, where attackers ring the phone company and get a duplicate SIM?

The SIM will be sent to the registered address of the owner. So you will have to intercept the post as well. And the PIN will be sent in a separate envelope on a different day.

That plus the other things like storing the encrypted keys in the SIM card activated by logging in to a bank by some other means make it pretty secure.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#42

Post by wtmt »

llampx wrote: post #33
peterburkimsher wrote: post #12

I live without 3G on my phone, though I still have a SIM card for receiving "emergency" calls. I haven't topped it up though, so I can't call out. It's been wonderful to make me focus on face to face conversations with people, rather than checking notifications all the time. I ask them to add me on Facebook, or make a note of their email address. If I can get online, I use mbasic.facebook.com with no ads, which loads…

> I live without 3G on my phone > My phone wakes me up with an alarm, but I'm not flooded with depressing Apple News first thing in the morning. So you turn off wi-fi before going to bed?

Not GP, but I turn off WiFi completely (not the intermediate “disconnecting nearby WiFi until tomorrow”) so that I control when I’m connected and when I’m not.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#44

Post by joshlk »

What the point? It’s so much hassle for no reason. If you want to be not dependent on something then don’t use a smart phone. But having a smart phone without a SIM seems the worse of both worlds.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#45

Post by paublyrne »

testis321 wrote: post #34
Ayesh wrote: post #6

If 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…

> Perhaps other than tracking concerns, I'm totally not convinced with the reasoning. Tracking is not an issue, if you keep your phone in airplane mode (wifi and bluetooth can be enabled on most phones, but mobile network stays disabled), or if you just remove the sim card, and put it back, on those rare occasion when you need it (so you don't have to bother other people)

If you have wifi turned on then what's to stop you being tracked. I imagine Google Maps can track you using a combination of GPS and WiFi, as well as working out your likely route between locations for periods you're out of contact.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#46

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

kickling wrote: post #31
torh wrote: post #19

Without a SIM card it would be a lot harder to do my taxes, access my online bank, check my insurance, etc., because the SIM card is used to veriy my identity using a solution called BankID. ( https://www.bankid.no/en/company/ ) It's a lot easier then the alternative with OTP codes, especially since BankID is now supported by a lot of different sites and services. From government, banking, phone companies, etc.

Is that the same as BankID in sweden? That is not 'connected' to the sim card, but to the device itself.

Norway's BankID and Sweden's BankID are different products by different companies that happen to have the same name.

Sweden did briefly have a SIM card-based version of its BankID, but it was quickly replaced with the smartphone app-based “Mobile BankID”.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#47

Post by microtonal »

nicky0 wrote: post #29
neilkakkar wrote: post #3

Not 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.

Some of us struggle with having constant connection to the internet in our pocket. Its a distraction at its mildest, and an damaging, health affecting addiction at worst (social media, and 24/7 work/communication expectations especially). Well done to those of you who are able to carry around a smartphone and regulate yourselves but some of us need to take more drastic action to cut it out.

Get a SIM without a data plan? You can still call or SMS people, get SMS 2FA when required, but you can't use social media apps.

I cut my phone use by removing most social media apps. I have also disabled notifications for most remaining apps, except for Facetime and iMessage (since I use them for high signal/noise ratio communication with friends an family).

Re: Living without a SIM card

#48

Post by bryanrasmussen »

jakobegger wrote: post #27
njitbew wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sister’s former boyfriend used to carry a phone without a SIM. His mom ended up calling my sister or our landline to check up on her son. It was annoying AF. Feel free to live off the grid, but please make sure you don’t leech off of those around you.

> make sure you don’t leech off of those around you I think that's a toxic attitude. Picking up the phone for someone else every now and then is really not a big of a hassle. Obviously I don't know the whole situation, but in general I do think that one should be ready to do such minor favors for another human being without calling them a leech.

I know someone who lives off the grid like this, they are also too cheap to ever pay their share of airbnb lodging (I will stay with someone else, oh you got it I come stay with you), too cheap to give a bit of scotch tape for taping up a box when clearing out their dead mothers house because they bought that tape for 2 euro, or finally too cheap to buy their own chewing gum when they have had all their other expenses paid (flight, lodging) to go to a wedding in Kiruna Sweden.

on edit: changed some incorrect uses of to to correct usage of too.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#49

Post by Aardwolf »

pjc50 wrote: post #35
kiloreven wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BanID SIM-application has to be installed over the air and activated through online banking. It's bound to one physical SIM, so an attacker would need to get into the online banking in the first place to reinstall the SIM app onto the new card. I believe the auth keys are stored on the SIM as part of this solution, and regenerated every time it's reactivated, invalidating the existing SIM.

This is .. remarkably sensible, and a good example of using the secure elements of the SIM card for the intended purpose. Makes me wonder why more places don't do this.

Why does this have to involve a SIM card though? Why not use the device itself, e.g. authenticator?

Re: Living without a SIM card

#50

Post by microtonal »

melling wrote: post #4

When 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.

I fear things will go in the opposite direction with ubiquitous 4G. Very often 4G is already much faster than most WiFi hot spots, to the point that I don't even bother anymore and just use personal hot spot on my laptop.
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