Paypal won't allow me to add my Israeli credit card, while keeping my Canadian credit card attached. Ummmwhy? Google Pay complains that my Israeli credit card can't be registered to my Israeli address since my Google Play account is in Canada.

The only companies I don't want to light on fire now are Amazon and Spotify. Everyone else just causes friction, which becomes the way I become a customer elsewhere. It's almost as if countries and companies are designed to ensure you stay in a specific geography. G-D forbid I use my Canadian credit card to pay for electronic services in Israel.

As for credit cards, definitely get a local one because most CC's will kill you on exchange rates and fees. Get a local bank account, a local credit card, and transfer funds with something like TransferWise [1]

Amazon works okay internationally, although again I'd recommend using two URLs (or containers) for each version. For example, you can access Canadian Amazon with "smile.amazon.com", and the Israeli one with just "amazon.com". But in general I think it's a good idea to use a container- (or browser-) per-country.

I'm not sure I entirely blame the digicorps on this one. Compliance with local law is difficult enough in isolation; these "dual digital citizen" cases are probably really complex. In fact, I'm surprised Spotify works seemlessly; it's probably an oversight by the music publishers.

This is all a corrallary, BTW, to the general truth that the only way to make money with digital goods is by creating artificial scarcity.

1 - https://wise.com/invite/u/joshuar301 - full disclosure, happy customer and this will generate 60 euros (under some circumstances) for me if you sign up.

Good luck with this in France. You have to show evidence of stay (a contact for utilities), for which you have to have an account.

There is a law that states that you can get an account without these requirements, and then there is the reality.

This reality also means that if you know someone who is a good client in a bank and go with them, there is a good chance they will open the account.

Banking in France is such a mess.

That's not necessary. The landlord needs a bank account number, and some might ( of course, entirely depending on the person) accept a foreign one + the explanation that you're in the process of creating a French one. I've done it and know people who have done it, but of course it limits your options, especially in high in demand cities like Paris.

And there are always the neobanks - IIRC Aumax and Boursorama didn't ask for "justificatif de domicile" ( a utility bill or similar).

And there's another trick, you can get a phone contract online, with only a credit card; and this will get you a bill with any address you choose, but that's gaming the system.

This is good news, I know several people from the EU (and outside) that could not get a renting contract because of the lack of good ol' French IBAN

> Aumax and Boursorama didn't ask for "justificatif de domicile"

Boursorama does, I do not know for the max card.

> you can get a phone contract online, with only a credit card;

oh really? the telecom companies do not ask for your actual address? I thought that this was now impossible following the anti terrorist laws

So, with lots of money you can break the circular problem of: you need a residence to get a local account, and getting a residence requires a local account and physical presence in the town hall registration office.

There are probably (hopefully) more efficient ways to do this, but that's how we did it.

Since the iPhone XS, they have double SIM. One of the 2 must be an eSIM, but otherwise it works fine.

I only recently re-opened an account due to local convenience, but would not trust them for moving serious cash around anywhere.

My (old) UK paypal account, even though i have the full credentials, doesn't allow me to sign in because it sends an SMS to a number i've long lost. I only wanted to sign in so i can close the account.

On the upside, all google apps do work with 2 accounts

I moved a few times between France and the UK, and every time I've had to move all my accounts (Youtube, Amazon, Playstation store, etc.) but most importantly I have two separate Paypal accounts to handle both countries.

There are also some French administrative websites that I can't access when I am in the UK, preventing me from booking appointments to renew official documents. I have to use a VPN and even then the pages fail to load most of the time and are 100 times slower than when connecting physically from France.

Needed a US phone number, or US bank account / credit card, or both.

Things like Postmates didn't even allow the entry of a UK phone number with +44 prefix. I sensed then that travelling wouldn't get easier and more convenient, it would increasingly get less convenient.

There's a real opportunity for Stripe, Twilio, etc to really dominate globally given that these are the tools we need to reach the largest markets, and inversely as customers to access services in all markets.

You can presumably switch your main account, too but that might be even more hassle.

> When I was in Poland, I couldn't use a rental bike because you have to have a Google Account tied to the Polish Playstore to be able to install the app.

These sort of restrictions get nighmarish (as you mention) when the apps are the only way to do something, and they are region-locked to the country's app store.

There should be some obvious test, like if you want to make something app-exclusive, make sure the damn app is in every version of the Play Store.

Huh? How is the Play Store supposed to know whether your Israeli gas station takes cash or not?

Settings > Accounts > Add account > Google. And to choose which account to use for Play, just click on the profile picture in the app and choose the account you want from the drop-down menu.

The accounts can be tied to different countries. So there is no need to have multiple phones.

I am surprised, because there is some content on Netflix region-specific which you can't access from another country.

Compare Amazon Prime overseas - 100% worthless, they wouldn't even let me pay to view a video I would have gladly paid to watch once. My account was stuck in some sort of cyclical impossible state that bounced me around in circles with no definite error but no way to progress either. I just found it so shocking such a large company can't even account for the fact any of their customers would ever at any point go on vacation a few days.

Montana also. I'm Australian in Australia but own a vehicle in the US. When trying to renew the registration, the ecommerce site failed with an error telling me to contact some authority. That authority's site and contact details blocked access to anyone outside the country.

what do you mean? Given they have to quote shipping, it's not unreasonable to take into account.

> Some Chinese..

China, and the CPC, are well know for restrictive policies and not giving a shit if it inconveniences foreigners. The message is pretty clear: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-24/china-ban... <- English tutoring is one of the few things foreigners can get a work visa in China for. I wouldn't be surprised if CPC is actively discouraging tourism. I wouldn't generalise this behaviour to all SEA.

> Currently in Ukraine, at least 2 of my banks block me from any access to my finances

To be fair, some countries have "complicated" relationships to international law/fraud.

> what do you mean? Given they have to quote shipping, it's not unreasonable to take into account.

I'm not entirely sure what the GP was getting at, but there is some friction with amazon and the international sites. I have amazon prime, but prime subscriptions seem to be region locked as it is only reflected in the .com site. When checking out through the UK or Italian Amazon storefront, it'll even prompt me to try a trial prime subscription.

If you look at all the complaints being had here it’s all basically related to banking and legal stuff. This is a failure in governance, not really the tech companies.

Some quick devil’s advocate talking points:

- Access to ridiculous amount of information and reviews basically anywhere. What to do. What not to do. Finding hidden niche cool things. Etc…

- Access to ridiculous people too. We did a small trip in a remote location and had this young college student show us around for a private tour. Was amazing, personal, real, and got to see/try things/places we normally wouldn’t. We would not have ever had a chance to be connected with her before. It would have been big stupid tour company.

- Instant mapping basically anywhere and looking things up (just the fact you can look up a bike or car rental store in 1 second on your phone even if say you can’t do the auto bike option…)

- I can just hold my phone over a menu in any language and it translates it in real time

- Safer between family tracking me in real time via location app or just having the option to ship medicine nearly overnight if needed, etc…

- Netflix… no comment

I just feel this is a bit dramatic for one annoying rent a bike station.

I think that's because you took the example off my head and failed to extrapolate that every where I go there are some roadblocks with what have now becoming (every day to a greater degree) basic services?

Access to food delivery & local Uber equivalents can be a problem, how exactly is not being able to get food or transport a "bit dramatic" as opposed to a 100% legit complaint (in fact I got caught in multiple countries' lockdowns, and I think goodness I didn't need to self-isolate to protect people and get caught with no food delivery options etc.)

Basically - if there is no awareness - they won't be addressed. This is not about a "trade off" with the great things Google or whoever "adds" to my life, there is no tradeoff, there is simply no attempt to address this stuff AFAIK first and foremost due to 0 awareness.

Except I do think you are being dramatic and I do think it actually is about “trade offs”.

Still appreciated reading your notes.

Access blockage is a pain in many countries, but it has zero to do with identifying yourself or having an account. You only need one, with a VPN hoster.

And this concerns Netflix just as well. Either they have changed something, or you are yet to make an unpleasant discovery. In my experience, the content available varies depending on where it thinks you are hailing from, regardless of payment method on file.

Amazon is the most reliable place so far to order overseas from, with one simple rule: only buy what’s “fulfilled by Amazon”. In my experience, as long as it lets you place that order, it will arrive (though customs paperwork and duties may be on you in some countries).

On balance my experience is mostly positive when traveling across reasonable countries. (The unreasonable ones are like China, where you are half outside of the system if you don’t set yourself up with a bank account and pay with WeChat.)

But yeah, I tend to not order takeout, I hate e-bikes and e-scooters with passion, etc. so I may be in the minority here.

I think OP’s point was that one shouldn’t need a VPN to do these things.

Yes, it’s inconvenient and shouldn’t be this way, but it’s far from a nightmare (yet). The true nightmare is situation in a few places like the aforementioned China, which is where we may be headed judging by TFA, but we've a long way to go.

If you download content in location X that is not available after you get to location Y, you can still access it if you put your phone on airplane mode. Can't refresh/redownload though, obviously.

I always thought having a VPN to home was valuable for getting around silly things like this while traveling.

Or maybe funny is the wrong word…

Or we can keep the status quo.