this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
610 points (98.0% liked)

Technology

60061 readers
2965 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Are you suggesting you need a phone number to get a phone number from Google Fi?

And yeah, it'll definitely to KYC, because that's a federal regulation. My point is that you don't need the number long-term, so the number will only be associated with you for like a week while the trial period lasts. So sign up for Google Fi trial, create a Signal account, then cancel the trial. That sounds pretty reasonable to me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Yea. Don't you need a Google account first to use such a service? Those do need phone numbers to register.

And also KYC is unacceptable in this case, imo. If the number is needed only for a short time, there are similar, non-KYC options like what you would find on kycnot.me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think you'll create a Google account as part of the Google Fi account creation process.

If that really bothers you, use a different MVNO. Some offer free trials, but even if not, it's not too bad to buy a month of service. My provider is Tello, and the minimum service that'll give you SMS is $5/month. If you're clever, you can probably also find a VOIP provider that does SMS for really cheap.

My point isn't that Google Fi specifically is what you should use, just that it's an example of a service that offers a free trial, so you can sign up for Signal for free.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I get the point, I just said how bad of an example this is, lol