This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’ve decided to get a Pixel with GrapheneOS as my next phone and I’m trying to decide the pros and cons of putting a SIM card in it. Convenience vs privacy, public wifi with a VPN vs using phone data, etc.
I can’t get a SIM card where I live without ID and I’m looking to reduce being tracked as much as possible. Does anyone else do the same thing?
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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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That’s a strange argument, why do you and lots of people replying here believe they are NOT tracked over WiFi which are themselves relying on ISPs?
If you don’t trust your ISP why would you trust random ISPs more?
No I have people I want to be able to contact me.
I have a Pixel 7a with GOS in airplane mode, with WiFi only. My old phone with the sim inserted is on Lineage OS and hasn’t fully (has a case of occasional ghost touch) died yet. I only use the old phone for cellular telephony.
I have a data-only sim, otherwise no sim for phone calls. My phone stays in airplane mode nearly always. I use voip to make and receive calls when wifi is an option. Most voip providers, afaik, are not privacy respecting including the one I use. Planning on switching to jmpchat someday which is all about privacy.
You can call emergency services even without a sim, so you might not be as disconnected as you would think
Yes, the cell tower can see the unique IMEI of your phone, so as long as the cell radio is on, the cell company can at least see what tower that IMEI is in range of. And if they can track the purchase of the phone to you, then they can identify your signal.
My kids have phones with no SIM card; they can call 911 and they can use WiFi when in range; I have them set up with a VPN to home, so that’s the only connection any hotspot sees.
I use phones without Sims, but it’s because I’m cheap and I have a collection of weird phones.
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I have a phone with no sim that I use sometimes over wifi, but I have another one with a sim that I sometimes use as a wifi hot spot for the no-sim phone.
i have my boss’s old one here that’s pretty much only used for testing mobile web and for its camera. i use a ‘dumb’ phone, and its camera doesn’t work (was crap-tier anyway when it did). i think it has 10 on it. it doesn’t leave the office, doesn’t get used that much, and has no google account linked to it anymore since it was totally reset when it was replaced earlier in the year… the inability to use google play to install a few apps reduces its usefulness. i got f-droid on it but not everything is available from it.
I do have a SIM card for emergencies but I keep it on flight mode 100% of the time.