Greetings, I need MFA and a few other things for work. I’d like to swap to a dumb phone on my off times. I don’t want to constantly swap out a SIM as it eventually damages the card itself.
What are my options? And is there a dumb phone you recommended?
I don’t see why you couldn’t have two separate devices - a basic smartphone with only the apps you need for work (and no other personal information on it such as photos, contacts, etc.) and a “dumbphone” for personal use. I like the rugged CAT dumb phones and believe Nokia still makes decent ones.
HMD has released in India a semi-intelligent phone, the HMD Touch 4G, for (the equivalent to) 40€.
Can you talk with the IT team?
I was able to switch my MFA to a Yubikey.
They rolled out the MFA policy quite recently and I immediately sent an email like “Hello. I do not have a smartphone. What are my options?”
They also had the option for SMS verification, but I had been looking at getting a Yubikey for myself anyway so might as well get work to pay for it.Did. They were not very helpful on that.
I mean, that’s on the IT department in most countries. Like if you don’t have a smart phone, you don’t have a smart phone. If they want it for the job usually they would need to either provide an alternative or provide the device.
I have a second SIM card for my phone number (for a tiny fee) … I need to direct where SMS go, but it rings on both.
You could probably also setup call forwarding from your work phone to your personal dumb phone - there will likely be an extra per-call cost.
If you tell me what you want to achieve, I might be able to help you.
My goal is minimalism. I’m not sure if I will stick to it. But I want a distraction free life. No ads. No TV. No time durdling on my cell phone. No corporate overlords.
My wife and I realized how distracting a phone can be and I just want some good quality time away from it. But I work in tech in tech need authenticatorsamd on-call functionality. I want to separate my work and personal life as much as I can.
Get a Pixel, put Grapheme OS on it. Set up a work profile. The work profile can be turned off manually or on a schedule, blocking any app within it including Google and any other stuff.
On your personal profile, use only Fdroid & Accrescent for your basic needs.
That’s it.
