The Google Voice app requires confirming your phone number in order to make or receive calls. You can use it for SMS and incoming voicemail but not calls.
If all you need is a number to text people there are other alternatives that don't harvest data like Google.
Re:Living without a SIM card
by gormandizer on Sunday February 09, 2020 @11:16AM
(#22282767)
I'm inclined to argue that ditching a SIM card in favor of Google voice is simply trading one form of "Surveillance Capitalism" for another.
The misperception I feel many of us have - myself included - is basic privacy means nondisclosure. I don't personally trust Google, nor do I have a Google account. But if I were to have a Google account I'd rather share my data - whatever it was I chose to share, which should always be opt-in - with Google's nemesis (Huawei?) and let let them pay us to fight over it.
Re:Living without a SIM card
by TurkishPoptart on Monday February 10, 2020 @03:14PM
(#22292762)
Which email service do you prefer? I'd like to transfer away from gmail.
Re:Living without a SIM card
by thefunnyman on Tuesday February 11, 2020 @02:28AM
(#22296739)
Not the person you asked but protonmail has worked well for me and seems to be widely recommend. There's some small Gmail features I miss like individually addressable Android notifications but I don't regret the switch.
- Google Voice gives you a free number that works anywhere and can be used for texting and 2FA. (There are some exceptions.)
- Calling with Google Hangouts is free to some countries, cheap in others, and can be configured to show your Google Voice number as the caller. Unfortunately, the call quality cans be pretty bad, definitely worse than, say, Skype.
- Google Maps offline works great on iPhone.
It feels liberating to have no SIM. I'm not always reachable, and that's a good thing. I'm not always connected to the internet, also a good thing. I usually near urban or suburban areas, so free WiFi is everywhere. When I want to connect, I connect. Easy.
Along with living without SIMs, my family also has a policy of No Screen Day (NSD) once a week. We all put our phones, computers, etc in closet at 11pm and don't touch them until 6am two days later. No TV, no going to movies theaters, no screens of any kind. We love our NSDs. They cause us to do different kinds of things, sometimes just read books. It usually the best day of the week.