• akilou@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    Parrelli explains that Signal is instituting the $3 fee to prevent scammers from creating multiple accounts and flooding the network.

    $3 does not seem like nearly enough to prevent this

    • cron@feddit.org
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      4 days ago

      You also need to factor in the cost of getting a new phone number. If creating an account without a phone number is significantly more expensive than just buying a burner SIM, it defeats the entire purpose.

      Here in Austria, I’ve seen SIM cards for as low as €2.

      • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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        2 days ago

        Aren’t they free? I would think any carrier would jump at the occasion to get you on their network. Besides you’ll have to purchase service anyway so charging for the SIM seems like a dick move. Unless you meant that the 2€ includes some form of service.

        • cron@feddit.org
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          2 days ago

          I just checked again, the offer is now €4 and includes 100 minutes/sms/megabyte.

    • redjard@reddthat.com
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      4 days ago

      You can only reach a few people before an account is banned due to reports.
      And most people won’t fall for scams.
      And you also wanna pay the remaining operation not spend most returns on signal accounts.

      Because of that there’s a massive difference in the kind of spam you get when it costs cents vs a few bucks per account.
      I definitely get more spam on discord than signal for example.

      3 bucks is also a lot more than it takes in some places to get numbers, so maybe long-term signal will try to also limit those number spaces with a fee? Either way this is enough to keep numbers as the weak link not numberless signups.

    • StillAlive@piefed.world
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      3 days ago

      I don’t think the same credit card can be used for multiple accounts.

      So it is not about money but hoops one needs to jump through to pay that money.