Partially off-topic: I've always found this German requirement baffling. In the Netherlands you can just buy a SIM card at a supermarket and pay cash. No identity, nothing.
In the Netherlands you can buy sim cards without any ID. If you pay them cash, there is no link to you, except maybe a security camera in the shop. You don't need to activate them - they work right away.
In the Netherlands you can even buy simcards in supermarkets, almost every supermarket is a virtual provider itself. If you go to a telecomshop they'll install it for you. Your describing something that's completely foreign to everyone over here.
In the UK (okay, not EU anymore but it was until recently) anonymous SIM cards are incredibly easy to come by. You can buy them in most corner shops, supermarkets, and petrol stations. Both big and small operators.
If you buy a SIM card from an operator's store they might ask for ID but they didn't the last time I did this (a couple of years ago).
When I last flew into the UK there were even prepaid SIM card vending machines, provided by the network operator, in the entrance/exit to the airport.
COntrast that with Switzerland, where I had to provide my passport to buy a SIM card.
In my home country, you can buy prepaid SIM cards in supermarkets just like everything else, you just pick up them from shelves and pay at check out. Everything is completely anonymous, nothing is registered all. I never heard anyone express concerns about it. It seems so obvious, that when I came to the US, I couldn't understand amazement in eyes of a clerk at a gas station, when I asked if they had any SIM cards I could buy.
The phone service in the US is also ridiculous expensive but it's a different matter.
Do countries really require ID to get a phone number?
I can buy a prepaid sim card in our Hofer (=Aldi) for 2eur, no verification, no nothing,... they even have the same barcode on, so even Aldi does not know which is mine, and I can pay in cash. I can buy a refill there with cash too, but just to receive an sms, I don't need one, because receiving messages is free.
Is it hard to buy a SIM card in much of the world? I can walk into one or about ten shops within 5km of here and buy one instantly. I think the price is ‘free’ but you pay something like EUR 10 to have credit on it. If you want to be anonymous, you can wear a hood and a mask and pay with cash.
Although, I do see potential for this, pay with credit/debit card? It will be traceable who do I call, also it will show up in my card records. Also, there is going to be some record where it was sent. It will be probably sufficient for most users, but not all.
I have it a little bit better, but not perfect.
For 15 euros I will get phone + prepaid card. I can buy it from any local gas station or kiosk or mall, I can have some homeless to buy it for me.
Prepaid over here means, it is as simple as old school phone cards. No name, no bank accounts, no contract, no credit/debit card. Cash and goodbye.
I can also allow roaming just by sending sms to specific number(if it is not allowed), it will work almost everywhere(although the prices will be pretty high)
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