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I live in the EU. I don't think you can get a SIM card or a home-internet-connection without of ID or Passport (if you are a foreigner). Unless you got a cafe/h

I live in the EU. I don't think you can get a SIM card or a home-internet-connection without of ID or Passport (if you are a foreigner). Unless you got a cafe/hotel/restaurant/neighbor and you steal their wifi you are correct - I don't think you can have an internet connection what cannot be traced back to you.

beAbU 3y ago
Not continental Europe, but 3 weeks ago I bought a sandwitch, drink and a Vodaphone sim card at Dublin international, right outside Terminal 2. I paid cash for it. Came with 20GB of data. I never tried it, but apparently you can buy topup vouchers at retailers also for cash. I converted my number to a bill-pay last week, and I had to submit proof of residence for that. I think they also asked for proof of ID (passport) and proof of residence status.
- tchvil 3y ago
  Didn't they ask you for your boarding pass? Far fetched, but it could be the reason they didn't ask you anything at the airport.
  - withinboredom 3y ago
    They said they were outside the terminal. So, I imagine it is like here in Amsterdam where there is an entire shopping mall outside.
- maccard 3y ago
  There's a WH Smith in T1 in dublin that sells prepaid sims. > I never tried it, but apparently you can buy topup vouchers at retailers also for cash. You can, yep. We do it once a month for my partner's mum who would be considered "unbanked".
  - beAbU 3y ago
    That's actually where I got my sim. So I went out of T1, and not T2 then.
imp0cat 3y ago
Last time I heard, prepaid data SIM cards were a thing, so I guess you could just get a second-hand one?
- dtx1 3y ago
  You can either order them preregistered from ebay or your local slightly shady phone resale store. It's also likely possible (though i havent tried) to use eSim and global providers like airalo.com to get one without enforced controlled registration (unlikely that they check, specially if you register via proxy). And lastly, especially if you live in west german you can just take a train to the netherlands and by a sim there, no registration required.
  - immibis 3y ago
    Cellphone networks are not required to support unlimited roaming within the EU, although there are some basic roaming requirements.
- f_devd 3y ago
  You can get prepaid data SIM (I think also regular but not 100%) without ID in at least some EU countries. And they work across the EU usually
  - immibis 3y ago
    They will work but you are at risk of the provider cutting you off for "abusing roaming" and I'm not sure if they can also sue you to recover their roaming costs. The EU cellphone network isn't integrated between different countries - roaming works the same as roaming from the EU to the USA, besides also having some consumer fairness laws.
    - petre 3y ago
      Most of them do not even come with roaming plans. If you want roaming you need something like a >10€ recharge to activate a plan with roaming enabled.
cameronh90 3y ago
UK isn't in the EU anymore, but here you've always been able to get anonymous pay-as-you-go SIM cards at the shop and top them up with cash. We don't even have a national ID card. If you sign up for a contract, which is cheaper, you do need to provide some proof of identity though.
- Erratic6576 3y ago
  SIM cards are associated with a cell tower, which is located in a population, so your anonymous card is tied to your image in any of the billions of CCTV monitors which track citizens as they move
  - madeofpalk 3y ago
    Moving the goalposts! Claim was "you can't get a SIM card without a passport or ID" which was disputed.
malka 3y ago
I live in France. It is very easy to get a prepaid card without any id.
eythian 3y ago
In the Netherlands you can get a prepay SIM with no ID. I have a friend that visits for a month or so every so often and buy one then.
Goz3rr 3y ago
I'm Dutch, and can walk into pretty much any supermarket to buy a prepaid sim card without identification and pay with cash.
unforgivenpasta 3y ago
In Finland you can go to any corner store to get a 300mbps 4G SIM or even 600 mbps 5G SIM and use it as your home internet in a LTE modem (which is very common)
manuelabeledo 3y ago
This is almost correct. Most EU countries require that you register your SIM card with your ID, before using it. This was a very controversial move from the EU, taken to the European Court of Human Rights, where it was given the green light [0]. Only a handful of EU countries didn't follow through with the ruling [1] Landline is a bit different, as you need proof of residence to contract it anyway. [0] https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-200442%22] https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-200442%...} [1] https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Registration_Policies_Per_Country#Europe https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Registration_P...

beAbU 3y ago

Not continental Europe, but 3 weeks ago I bought a sandwitch, drink and a Vodaphone sim card at Dublin international, right outside Terminal 2. I paid cash for it. Came with 20GB of data. I never tried it, but apparently you can buy topup vouchers at retailers also for cash. I converted my number to a bill-pay last week, and I had to submit proof of residence for that. I think they also asked for proof of ID (passport) and proof of residence status.

tchvil 3y ago
Didn't they ask you for your boarding pass? Far fetched, but it could be the reason they didn't ask you anything at the airport.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  They said they were outside the terminal. So, I imagine it is like here in Amsterdam where there is an entire shopping mall outside.
maccard 3y ago
There's a WH Smith in T1 in dublin that sells prepaid sims. > I never tried it, but apparently you can buy topup vouchers at retailers also for cash. You can, yep. We do it once a month for my partner's mum who would be considered "unbanked".
- beAbU 3y ago
  That's actually where I got my sim. So I went out of T1, and not T2 then.

imp0cat 3y ago

Last time I heard, prepaid data SIM cards were a thing, so I guess you could just get a second-hand one?

dtx1 3y ago
You can either order them preregistered from ebay or your local slightly shady phone resale store. It's also likely possible (though i havent tried) to use eSim and global providers like airalo.com to get one without enforced controlled registration (unlikely that they check, specially if you register via proxy). And lastly, especially if you live in west german you can just take a train to the netherlands and by a sim there, no registration required.
- immibis 3y ago
  Cellphone networks are not required to support unlimited roaming within the EU, although there are some basic roaming requirements.
f_devd 3y ago
You can get prepaid data SIM (I think also regular but not 100%) without ID in at least some EU countries. And they work across the EU usually
- immibis 3y ago
  They will work but you are at risk of the provider cutting you off for "abusing roaming" and I'm not sure if they can also sue you to recover their roaming costs. The EU cellphone network isn't integrated between different countries - roaming works the same as roaming from the EU to the USA, besides also having some consumer fairness laws.
  - petre 3y ago
    Most of them do not even come with roaming plans. If you want roaming you need something like a >10€ recharge to activate a plan with roaming enabled.

cameronh90 3y ago

UK isn't in the EU anymore, but here you've always been able to get anonymous pay-as-you-go SIM cards at the shop and top them up with cash. We don't even have a national ID card. If you sign up for a contract, which is cheaper, you do need to provide some proof of identity though.

Erratic6576 3y ago
SIM cards are associated with a cell tower, which is located in a population, so your anonymous card is tied to your image in any of the billions of CCTV monitors which track citizens as they move
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  Moving the goalposts! Claim was "you can't get a SIM card without a passport or ID" which was disputed.

malka 3y ago

I live in France. It is very easy to get a prepaid card without any id.

eythian 3y ago

In the Netherlands you can get a prepay SIM with no ID. I have a friend that visits for a month or so every so often and buy one then.

Goz3rr 3y ago

I'm Dutch, and can walk into pretty much any supermarket to buy a prepaid sim card without identification and pay with cash.

unforgivenpasta 3y ago

In Finland you can go to any corner store to get a 300mbps 4G SIM or even 600 mbps 5G SIM and use it as your home internet in a LTE modem (which is very common)

manuelabeledo 3y ago

This is almost correct. Most EU countries require that you register your SIM card with your ID, before using it. This was a very controversial move from the EU, taken to the European Court of Human Rights, where it was given the green light [0]. Only a handful of EU countries didn't follow through with the ruling [1] Landline is a bit different, as you need proof of residence to contract it anyway. [0] https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-200442%22] https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-200442%...} [1] https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Registration_Policies_Per_Country#Europe https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Registration_P...