Do PAYG Mobiles need to be 'Registered'?

thatman-1

I'm one of the few novices to mobile phones, and need one for 'personal' use. Do I have to supply a name and address for registration purposes when buying one - say from Argos or wherever?

Dan:)_7

No, no details will be needed

Techhead_2

Whilst you wont need to give any personal information at a general retailer. Some networks require you to register before the SIM is activated.

If you buy in a network store or a phone shop then you will probably be asked for your information.

david39

I did not register my Tesco sim card.

I thought they would not know who had it until I topped it up through their website and used my Clubcard ! ! !

gas4you

I've never known it to be compulsory in the past to register a PAYG, but as they want you to, they usually dangle some carrot to tempt you.

thatman-1

Is there a way to activate a sim card anonymously?

DUTR

thatman-1 wrote: »

Is there a way to activate a sim card anonymously?

As mentioned you don't have to register the sim, but usually incentives are offered if you do, not suggesting for a minute that you are, but if you are thinking of doing 'dodgy' stuff using an unregistered sim, you won't really be annonymous, they wholeheartedly know whow the sim belongs to (or who is using it) by a whole host of 'measures'

Techhead_2

DUTR wrote: »

As mentioned you don't have to register the sim, but usually incentives are offered if you do, not suggesting for a minute that you are, but if you are thinking of doing 'dodgy' stuff using an unregistered sim, you won't really be annonymous, they wholeheartedly know whow the sim belongs to (or who is using it) by a whole host of 'measures'

Please remember that some service providers don't activate the account or SIM until the phone is registered.

DUTR

Techhead wrote: »

Whilst you wont need to give any personal information at a general retailer. Some networks require you to register before the SIM is activated.

If you buy in a network store or a phone shop then you will probably be asked for your information.

3 never asked me, however they did insist that payment is via debit card, so I suspect they could gather some trace from the payment method.

thatman-1

I know that a user cannot be completely anonymous. As regards to anything 'dodgy' - no - nothing illegal at all. :cool:

stankovalski

I've heard there are some EU plans that will make registering PAYG sim cards compulsory - but no laws have been passed yet. Fortunately you can still have some privacy.