Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Living without a SIM card

habd.as

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 300 posts

Re: Living without a SIM card

#81

Post by tzjmetron »

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.

> make sure you don’t leech

Spot on. Nothing worse than feeling taken advantage of.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#82

Post by tzjmetron »

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.

You deliberately took a very narrow interpretation of OP's message, and then you create an elaborate viewpoint on top of that. That's just retarded. OP was specifically calling out people who leech, not people who take an odd favour off of others - consistently carrying a phone without a bloody SIM is definitely the hallmark of a leech.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#83

Post by bryanrasmussen »

dannyw wrote: post #80
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 expense…

Sounds like they're just cheap; and the off the grid part doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it.

exactly the original comment was make sure not to leach, and someone else thought it was a toxic attitude, and I don't think it is too toxic an attitude - because there are people who are leaches after all.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#84

Post by Vinnl »

hdkwowjdj wrote: post #52
Vinnl wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, s…

Oh yes, I wasn't trying to imply that any party was at fault here - just that the outcome is unfortunate.

This isn't just limited to communications tools. For example, people might have dietary restrictions for non-health reasons (religion, environmental impact, etc) that others do not share or even understand. I don't mind accommodating those (to a limit) e.g. when picking a place to eat, but it is a burden placed on people around them. That's just the way it is, I guess, and I suppose all people can do is try to minimise the burden, and to be accepting of those placed upon you.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#85

Post by dannyw »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #14
valgeirg wrote: post #7

use tor, brave, vpn whatever. use prepaid unregistered sim. get online when you want, live :-) or just cut off you leg to fix your toe.

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.

Thankfully this is still possible in the US... for now.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#86

Post by nicky0 »

microtonal wrote: post #47
nicky0 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

The problem for me is carrying around a phone with apps on it.

So I have a SIM with a dumbphone but no smartphone. People can call and send me messages. Frequently I leave that at home too.

I do have an iPod touch though which i use for podcasts, as a camera, and for a few specific things like a banking app. But no messaging, social media or distraction-type things are allowed on there.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#87

Post by nicky0 »

neilkakkar wrote: post #75
nicky0 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That makes sense, but wasn't mentioned as a core reason in the post, so I'm assuming it's not that for author.

True, I was more addressing the general idea around "drastic" action along these lines. I hadn't heard of SIM free idea myself.

People often get a bemused or even aggressive reaction to those who cut out conventional device habits.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#88

Post by dathinab »

My First reaction was that it sounds awesome and I want to try it for a view month.

Then I realized that most German delivery services require a phone number and email address (like when you order a new shelf or phone or computer or ...).

Then I realized that the messenger I use to communicate with my family bases identity on the phone number (not my choice, but nothing I can easily change).

Then I realize that my main relevant usage is to get live information about public transport.

Well I guess I'm not quite ready for it yet maybe when I managed to convince everyone to switch to a non phone number based messenger.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#89

Post by keverets »

paper-boat wrote: post #15

I've also tried going SIM-less for a few years. Wifi hotspots are frequently around you rarely find yourself in a situation needing a data plan. But the main problem is 2FA many services force you to use now. Going without a data plan is wonderful, but every now and then, having a couple minutes are SMS services is great.

For the US and Canada, there is JMP.chat which can be used to 2FA over SMS without a SIM. Uses standard XMPP so can be used from a computer or phone while on WiFi.

There are other proprietary services which can do the same for no monetary cost (usually lots of advertising and tracking, though).

Re: Living without a SIM card

#90

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

dathinab wrote: post #88

My First reaction was that it sounds awesome and I want to try it for a view month. Then I realized that most German delivery services require a phone number and email address (like when you order a new shelf or phone or computer or ...). Then I realized that the messenger I use to communicate with my family bases identity on the phone number (not my choice, but nothing I can easily change). Then I realize that my ma…

> Then I realized that the messenger I use to communicate with my family bases identity on the phone number

It is only required upon registration or a change of a phone. Most messengers don't require (nor really have a way of figuring out) whether you have the same simcard in the phone, or whether you have a simcard in it at all.

Post reply on HN