BladeFederation

Do you often get charged per call by your carrier in Europe still? If so that’s really too bad. Most of the VoIP services I’m familiar with is NA only but I know others exist, you’ll just have to do your own vetting.

Nobody said you shouldn’t use SMS ever. When you can avoid it though, do.

RCS and iMessage are essentially just separate internet based messaging apps like Signal or WhatsApp. iMessage doesn’t even require a phone number if you’re only messaging other iMessage users. The only difference being, they CAN message phone numbers, but if it isn’t “their” app, they’ll fall back to using SMS. iMessage has implemented RCS if messaging someone using Google Messages, but it is not encrypted, so essentially the same thing as SMS from a privacy and security perspective.

As far as understanding it, both carriers and Google/Apple need to pay for infrastructure. For carriers it is cell towers, for internet based stuff it is servers. Carriers need you to pay for the infrastructure because they offer a single service (kind of, all 3 sell your data). Google & Apple make all kinds of money off of you in many ways, and getting high adoption for their apps makes them more powerful, especially since they have closed standards while SMS is open.

And alternate apps exist, but combining them confuses people into thinking SMS is secure.

Might I suggest a VoIP provider? It costs money, yes, but since you are using your real number on VoIP, you can routinely switch carriers to get new customer deals. For example, I pay $15/month for unlimited data and $5/month to JMP.chat. JMP gives me unlimited text, 2 hours of voice, and voice is less than a cent/min after that is used. I was paying $40/month before for unlimited (still capped after 10 GB). JMP doesn’t require personal information (though they will know if you port an outside number and your phone number is public no matter what, so…). You can lie about your name and address to Mint (though I recommend putting a hotel address near you to comply with regional taxes for your payment plan. They’ll know your approximate location anyway).

But why would you REALLY do this? Decoupling the phone number you actually use from your SIM card/eSIM is powerful. Everyone who wants to know your phone number can, especially if you live in the US. People search sites are crazy. Even barring that, you give it to the government, job applications, credit card companies, banks, random restaurants, tech companies (even if you are privacy conscious now you probably gave it to Google, Apple, and Microsoft at one point). Your SIM shows your approximate location, which can be legally pulled by the government. Stalkers, PIs, and bounty hunters can and do bribe carriers for this info as well. Unless you have a degoogled phone, your texts are likely being scanned by Google or Apple (look into the way they are blurring nude photos in texts unless your age is verified and asking you if you’re sure you want to send or open them).

VoIP protects you from this, and also prevents targeted SIM swaps. You can also get multiple numbers (for JMP it is half price) if you need a work phone number, or for dating new people, restaurants, calling anonymously, etc.

Downsides: Some websites won’t accept VoIP numbers. One government website even wouldn’t allow me to verify with my number that was previously not VoIP, but was the only number I had used, and therefore the only way to verify.

If you talk on the phone a lot it can get pricey. But you should really be using something like Signal for anyone who you frequently talk to. Traditional voice, SMS, RCS, and even iMessage are all terrible for privacy & security, and should essentially be treated as a public social media post that you can’t delete.

If your phone is carrier locked, it is nearly pointless: larger carriers require personal info so you don’t gain much anonymity, nor can you save money. If your phone is not degoogled, it is also a lot less useful since Google has your (much more accurate) location data. However, if you don’t have a Google account tied to your real name (or don’t use one at all) it still may be worth it.

As OP mentioned, it’s not really an option. unless you want to pay double or triple. I’d buy non-smart if it was a reasonable price and had the feature set I want.

Just don’t connect it to the internet my dude.

Very much possible, yes. I don’t think any game is worth the risk. Even if you have a PC dedicated to just gaming, buying new hardware if it gets borked is more expensive than just buying the game. Or playing the hundreds of great games kn existence without Denuvo.

Let’s not get crazy

How good for that small percentage of people in an already small percentage of people who can afford to retire. A lot of retirees are on a fixed income, making it even worse.

Unfortunately I don’t get paid in gold.

Admittedly the fact that they are ads is hidden better than most websites would. But it’s there if you think about it. Recommended apps in the start menu. The truckload of things you have to decline on install like an Office subscription, Game Pass, etc. The settings app will occasionally have pop ups that remind you that you have a free trial. There are pop ups that cover the entire OS reminding you to “finish setting up your PC” with no option to say no.

Which, funny enough, Microsoft is thinking about sunsetting, because they can’t stop losing. Although they have very similar features with Intune.

That’s not Microsoft, that’s just how managed computers work lol. Which means you likely stole it or bought it stolen.

Gayyyy

As soon as possible after you work out. If you don’t work out, you should. Otherwise night since you don’t want to introduce the grime of the day into your bed.

The “explain like I’m 5” version: Anarchist is Libertarian Left, Libertarian is Libertarian right. The political compass is wildly imperfect but it is a useful thought experiment. Certainly better than “left vs right except actually it’s right vs right” that politics have become.

This post, and you OP ❤️

You’re absolutely right about sycophantic Ai, and that brings up a really good point about society. Can I help you with an essay that lists the reasons Ai is harmful?

You’ve got to remember…