How Do I Buy A Smart Phone? - I just want 2FA

Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd

Senior Layout Artist
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Short version.
Assume I'm an absolute beginner who has never used a smart phone and owns no smart phone accessories, what's the best way to buy a smart phone? I only want it for 2 factor authentication and will likely use it for nothing else.



Long version.
I don't own a smart phone. Everyone I've told that to seems surprised and wonders what I do on the shitter.

So many sites are demanding 2 factor authentication now, especially online stores. For a while I've gotten around this various ways, but such methods are becoming unreliable or inconvenient. So I thought I might as well buy a cheap used phone from a pawn shop, install a fresh operating system on it, and leave it on my desk for when I need to buy things.

But when I tell people this plan, they all immediately say no. That smart phones "don't work like that". When I ask "how do they work?" I get wildly different answers. Looking online doesn't help as pretty much all the guides assume you're neck deep in phone culture and only talk about specs.

I consider myself tech literate. I can build a computer and install an operating system. I always treated smart phones as just little computers with a touch screen that can make phone calls, but I'm told it's not that simple and that buying one isn't as simple as walking into a shop and picking one off the shelf.

Like I said, my use for it is to have it sit on my desk for 2FA. So any advice on how to buy, what to buy, where to buy, and what to look out for would be appreciated.
 
  • Feels
  • Autistic
  • Informative
Reactions: Hitman One, Homegrown Homophobia, Aunt Carol and 4 others
Why do you need a smartphone for 2FA? It's usually just an ordinary SMS that gets sent to your phone.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Judge Dredd
I consider myself tech literate. I can build a computer and install an operating system. I always treated smart phones as just little computers with a touch screen that can make phone calls
Click to expand...
You're kind of right. Except you missed the part where, right at the hardware level, it's locked down and restricted by the manufacturers, then again at the virtual machine level and again at the os level.

If all you want is 2fa, just get a cheap phone with a pay as you go sim card. You can get them from phone stores, electronics stores, the internet, some gas stations, Asian corner stores, Craigslist or equivalent, lots of places. Sim cards you can get from some kind of phone provider service.

There's online services that can provide you with a phone number so you can skip the sim card but I don't know much about those.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Judge Dredd
byuu said:
Why do you need a smartphone for 2FA? It's usually just an ordinary SMS that gets sent to your phone.
Click to expand...
If I can get away with a regular phone, great! Some 2FA ask that I open a companion app or similar.
 
If its just standard 2FA and not specifically based around an app, you can use Authy Desktop. You need a phone number to tie it to, but I assume at the very least you have some form of phone.

In the event you do get a smart phone you can tie the app version to the desktop version and use either one.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: glow, Toolbox, Vecr and 1 other person
Judge Dredd said:
If I can get away with a regular phone, great! Some 2FA ask that I open a companion app or similar.
Click to expand...
there's 4G LTE usb modems that work just fine with both linux and windows. Just need a sim card, you can also use them as internet access. SMS sending and receiving can easily be scripted in Linux and I'm sure there's some software for that in Windows too. They also work with Android emulation at least and there's also at least one x86 Android around that works with them, bringing you access to the apps.

They mostly want you to have a SIM card because in many places in the world it's impossible to get one without an ID. Having your mobile phone number on file is as good as having a copy of your ID for identification purposes when law enforcement comes a-knockin'. Always remember kids - if you give them your phone number you usually ceased to be anonymous at that point and put a name and an address to that account. I'm always flabbergasted at how many people don't realize/know this.

(Also don't buy sim cards from resellers that promise to "anonymize" you. It's not technically illegal but there's a non-zero chance you might get an unpleasant visit and unwarranted attention. If you're in europe the best place to get a working, new sim card in a normal store without ID is Denmark. They have no such requirements, at least yet. Just bring cash.)
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
Reactions: LilShotaBoy, &igrewintoribbons, Aunt Carol and 5 others
According to my bank, you don’t.

Have more than the necessary money to pay for it? Doesn’t matter.

It’s a suspicious purchase.

You called us and told you it’s not.. and we agreed and said it won’t happen again? Too bad we’re still blocking the purchase.
 
  • Feels
Reactions: Aunt Carol and Judge Dredd
I don't own a smart phone. Everyone I've told that to seems surprised and wonders what I do on the shitter.
Click to expand...
You don't need a smartphone to be entertained on the shitter. I used to play Tetris on my first shitty flip phone.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Judge Dredd
Two Dollars said:
Why? I’ve never heard that before.
Click to expand...
Some sites go ungodly lengths to "protect" your account. Going as anti-consumer as posible.

I am having a problem with an e-commerce platform I used to sell to. As I tried to log in with a PC I have never used, it tells me to open the companion app on my phone and input the sms code I received, now it let me scan my face so it allows me to scan the QR on the computer screen to see if it was me who wanted to log in.

The problem is, I had a surgery and my face is swollen still, so the check fails everytime. And the customer support dude tells me that in order to unlock my account, I need to send them a PDF with my ID card to prove that it was me who could not log in.

If It only let me use the damn sms code on the first place I would not be locked out of my account nor wasted any time.

But back on topic, any phone with a decent camera should do. Do not get android 7 or lower, as I discovered that most bank apps and sites like Amazon only work on Android 8 and up.

I use my old Huawei phone with an unregistered pay-as-you-go sim card for everything 2FA and spam mail/calls related, so it can be used for what you want and only that. Do not listen to the people an use your phone as you wish; most of them are perpetually glued to social media so low phone usage is weird for them.
 
  • Feels
Reactions: Rozzy and Judge Dredd
Check back market. Never used them. People swear by it though. Amazon's okay really anything is Android 10 on up should be fine
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Judge Dredd
Don't buy a phone, use something like Authy or the like. It's free and you can use it on your computer.
 
Whatever you do, just don’t get a Google Pixel. Even with AdBlock, YouTube and other Alphabet sources keep trying to sell me one for some reason.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Post Reply
Judge Dredd said:
If I can get away with a regular phone, great! Some 2FA ask that I open a companion app or similar.
Click to expand...
I've seen very few services that'll enforce the use of their own app. If they're giving you a QR code and asking you to use Google Authenticator or something like that, you can use the OTP hash with something like KeePassXC to generate codes locally. Sometimes they won't give you the OTP hash (usually it's revealed by hitting something like "Enter manually") and in that case you can use a QR code decoder to get it.
Two Dollars said:
Why? I’ve never heard that before.
Click to expand...
SMS 2FA is vulnerable to malicious number porting and SS7 attacks so it's better to have a system that generates codes offline.
Jonah Hill poster said:
Whatever you do, just don’t get a Google Pixel. Even with AdBlock, YouTube and other Alphabet sources keep trying to sell me one for some reason.
Click to expand...
I actually recommend Google Pixels since they're very easy to de-Google with CalyxOS or (if you're a turbo autist) GrapheneOS. In my opinion, a Pixel with GrapheneOS would suit the OP well.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Judge Dredd, Aidan, Two Dollars and 1 other person
I think i would honestly just recommend some modern dumbphone or something, probably one that runs adroid or sommething
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back