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Living without a SIM card

habd.as

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Re: Living without a SIM card

#51

Post by josteink »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #9

Some 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 direct…

> For example, you can use google services on devices with no sim

Considering there have been WiFi-only Android tablets since forever this cannot possibly be news to anyone?

Re: Living without a SIM card

#52

Post by hdkwowjdj »

Vinnl wrote: post #36
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.

This is really hard to do. I don't live off the grid by any means - there's a million ways to contact me, e.g. text message, calling, Signal messages, emails, etc. However, I don't use Whatsapp in a country where the vast majority of people does. I'm fine with missing things if people don't feel like using any of the methods I have to get in touch with me. However, instead of either not bothering or using one of the…

It's a social cost question, I guess.

Your signal: I don't care enough about our communication to use WhatsApp, because of reasons that are obscure to 99% outside a tech community. Similarly, they don't bother to reach out to you on other communication channels, because they don't bother enough.

The important thing to understand is, from your communication partners point of view, you create a burden without reason, so they work around it in (their) most effective way.

I've been there and didn't support this or that messenger. By now I think, the only way to solve those kind of issues are i) sane laws that regulate privacy and communication security, and ii) trends that create a need for a new communication style - private, secure, and human (like, calling from time to time, find a better solution to ghosting, things like that).

I'm convinced that we need positive incentives for that, instead of creating artificial burden.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#53

Post by [deleted] »

tjoff wrote: post #39
goblin89 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t BankID subject to the same old issues with cellular networks that make SMS 2FA insecure? Mobile provider support human factor, connection MITM’ing, etc. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16810266 ) Edit: from sibling threads I can see that issuing a duplicate SIM card in Norway may require a very dedicated attacker, but mass-spoofing cell towers could still be an issue. I don’t know why do companies dislik…

Not at all. And the comment you link to is "just" social engineering. Tricking people into signing in someone else and then signing their transactions. Akin to "hey I'm from paypal please give me your password so I can verify it is you". Or "I'm from Microsoft support, you have a virus please run this executable so that we can help you". But it is a problem. And they explicitly target old and other people that (stati…

[deleted]

Re: Living without a SIM card

#54

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Aardwolf wrote: post #49
pjc50 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Sweden briefly had a SIM card-based system before scrapping it in favour of a pure smartphone app.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#56

Post by kiloreven »

Aardwolf wrote: post #49
pjc50 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It's possible to use OTP and password as well, which requires a physical OTP generator. But that's actually more cumbersome than using the SIM alternative in my experience.

I believe using the SIM adds layers of security that OTP apps can't compete with, including increased difficulty cloning the private key. I assume that accessing the relevant parts of the SIM is way harder and requires completely different vectors than attacking the OS.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#57

Post by neiman »

njitbew wrote: post #11
goblin89 wrote: post #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 lit…

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.

> His mom ended up calling my sister or our landline to check up on her son. It was annoying AF.

What you call "annoying AF" was reality for many many years, and yet people were not constantly annoyed..

Re: Living without a SIM card

#58

Post by nmstoker »

One major advantage is the impact on phone battery life - partly because various services aren't repeatedly pinging over the mobile network (especially in "notspots"), WiFi tends not to burn through battery. And partly because it tends to change your behaviour to do more focused things (the phone isn't constantly trying to distract you as it often can't, so you don't then waste time and power on these distractions).

I don't think I'd abandoned a SIM card in the near future but having used my old phone without the SIM as an alternate for my new phone on a few occasions, the old phone battery went from being awful to lasting way longer than my brand new phone of comparable specs.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#59

Post by sarakayakomzin »

deugtniet wrote: post #5
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.

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.

>It's called peace of mind

Is it? because from my perspective you've taken yourself out of a few databases (AT&T / Verizon / Telco) and plopped yourself into a few other databases (2nd Line, Grab) without having a whole lot of benefit.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#60

Post by dtmf-io »

wh1t3n01s3 wrote: post #18
AdrianB1 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting a prepaid unregistered SIM is no longer possible in an increasing number of countries. I think most of Europe requires identification to buy a prepaid SIM.

Have you ever heard of LycaMobile?

Most likely they have heard of the MVNO/"service reseller" LycaMobile, but how does that respond to their comment at all? LycaMobile still require you to register your ID with them in countries that have that rule.
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