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I think in the US some operators (T-Mobile at least) require ID even for pre-paid SIMs. Are there any US operators not requiring IDs in practice?
You can sign up for T-Mobile eSIM with zero forms of ID, or buy a SIM kit in a brick and mortar location and activate that way without ID.

I remember when you could pick up any Verizon handset, dial *228, and get activated on prepaid with only entering in a ZIP code for the new phone number. Or even before that, old AMPS phones would roam onto the "American Roaming Network" and you could just use the deactivated phone on ARN with a credit card for every call outbound. No inbounds, of course. ;)

Australia was surprisingly difficult - not only need registration but also local address needs to be on a database. Had to go 4G most of the time. As ever, the official reasoning is always national security
Thankfully all that data is ever so secure...

Of course it's ultra important for national security that we need all this very important data at all, you know... for security's sake.

Don't you feel so much more secure now we have it and it's being stored and shared with all the other secure departments so securely??

https://www.smh.com.au/search?text=optus

yeah absolutely, big govt is way less competent than big tech when it comes to data security, or maybe anything else for that matter
Anyone in the EU roaming unregistered SIMs from less invasive EU countries, such as Czechia? Experiences?
Though not legally mandated,telecom providers in India insist on tying the SIM to the Indian biometric ID called Aadhar. Each ID can be associated to upto 9 SIMs.