The thing is, even if you would not need to link your identity to your sim card, it would still be trivial to identify who you are if you use your phone like a normal human. Thanks to cell towers.

But yes this is just an excuse and does not stop much crime. If you want to break into a bank or hurt someone just leave your phone at home and you already circumvented this measure.

I live in the Czech Republic and I can buy a SIM card in any supermarket. Put on some hat so I can’t be recognized on a camera, wait some time so they delete their camera recordings, and I’m good to go. Not that I do that, though.

If you buy an anonymous simcard, don’t put it into a phone where was your (e)sim. The carrier can see all IMEIs of the phone.

Also carrying them together is sus when they connect to same towers at the same time

Almost all countries require official authentication to activate a SIM card.

Fortunately not in the Netherlands. I don’t think that’s the case in the rest of the EU. I can use free sim cards as much as I want!

When communicating with cell towers, a phone will also broadcast its unique IMEI identifier. So, even if you swap the SIM card every day, your IMEI is still being broadcast the same.

Changing the IMEI of a phone in the EU is illegal, unless the manufacturer consents: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/31/section/1

So… I have a Chinese 4G mobile router, and the manufacturer gives me the permission to change the IMEI as it is an integrated feature of the device. I use that for my data. The data codes I purchase small quantities in bulk with cash, and I can access the router via its ip from my phone’s browser to send the SMS messages to activate the data codes as needed. Since WiFi connections are abundant around here I keep these codes for emergencies. I can go a few months some time without activating data codes. I mostly use them when traveling internationally.

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that the vast majority of people here don’t have such a threat model. Our threat model is mostly preventing corporations like Google and Facebook from accessing our data. If your threat model is so advanced that you need to prevent tracking via connection to a cell tower (i.e state actors targeting you), the only thing you can do short of putting your phone in a faraday cage/taking out the cellular radios/ not having a phone at all is to turn on airplane mode. This is because your phone still maintains a connection to a cell tower without a SIM card.

I doubt most of the companies tracking people with their phone even bother trying to get at that data since finding your identity is so easy when there is some tracking in almost every app.

Use a phone with no Sim card and just connect to a WiFi hotspot when you need internet?

Counter point: I don’t want an untraceable phone used as a detonator. There’s a reason that these things are linked to real-world identities.