Hotmail/outlook/mindrape

[Francois le Danque]

Hi friends

just wondering if anyone else uses hotmail or whatever the fuck it's called these days

I cannot log in because they want a telephone number or alternate email address, things they can pry from my cold dead hands.

Does anyone know how to get around this?

pic related

edit: i just learned i can just create a new account and use that. So now my options are 1) quit, 2) give away my precious bodily details, 3) give the insidious bastards more business. Weevils

[Alice]

I had this while back. You should just be able to leave it blank and keep skipping past that request Frank.

To stop the request coming up again and again, I *think* I just put in a dummy number. I was a while ago, I don't remember exactly sorry, but it doesn't happen anymore, and I certainly didn't give them my phone number lol.

[Francois le Danque]

have you checked again recently? i used to just keep trying until it went away, but the new one is compulsory. i have found many people just as upset as myself.

[glimpse]

I have five days of skipping that page but its counting down and its currently at 3 days to go until i go through this bullshit also (and i dont have a mobile) so looks like i am about to be screwed royally.

[bogfrog]

Yep the same fuckin thing happened to me, and i finally gave in yesterday and gave the bastards an old phone number which i still have the sim card for. I reeeally didnt want to and now wish i hadnt but circumstances made it neccesarry.

The terribly annoying part is that you cant just use a fake number! Even when you try to enter one is says 'this is not a valid mobile number'

I would suggest (if sim cards are as cheap where you are as they are in NZ, i only paid $1 for my new one) just buying a new sim card, poppin it in your phone (or in your case Glimpse, see if you can borrow a phone for a few mins) activating it (this usually just involves a phonecall to the provider) and using this number, then snapping or disposing of the sim.

[bogfrog]

Does anyone know if there is a non-evil email provider in existance?

[Alice]

I just tried signing in then. No problems. No asking for any details.

But like I said, I went through this a while ago. So maybe they are leaving me alone now.

[quarterflesh]

Iv found it pretty handy that they have my number so they can send new passwords straight to my phone when i forget them.

[waterboy 2.0]

just tapped in a random number set a while back and it stopped bothering me.

[planthelper]

I think this is illegal, as they can't force me to buy a mobil.

I don't have a mobil, 3 years jail for you,

signed judge,

nokia

[ThunderIdeal]

Hey dont put this on nokia!

err well

funnily enough the owners of hotmail, microsoft, are the new owners of nokia phones.

[∂an]

This article reviews three of the better email hosting sites on the net... All require fees however.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/163698-encrypted-email-isnt-secure-but-if-you-must-use-it-here-are-some-lavabit-alternatives

It also makes an important point - if you want to make secure end to end communication, email probably isn't the best way to do it. Now where did I put that signal mirror...

[nothinghead]

Create a new email address and use it as your alternative. Otherwise they'll eventually lock you out of your current address. No need to use the new email address for anything, so you aren't providing them with any extra information, really.

[Francois le Danque]

Create a new email address and use it as your alternative. Otherwise they'll eventually lock you out of your current address. No need to use the new email address for anything, so you aren't providing them with any extra information, really.

true, just more money

[Francois le Danque]

I would suggest (if sim cards are as cheap where you are as they are in NZ, i only paid $1 for my new one) just buying a new sim card, poppin it in your phone (or in your case Glimpse, see if you can borrow a phone for a few mins) activating it (this usually just involves a phonecall to the provider) and using this number, then snapping or disposing of the sim.

Don't you have to comprehensively prove who you are to buy a SIM? that's the issue, i don't want my identity linked to my email address. It's not as though i don't let other companies have my phone number if it is in my interests. But here it is not.

[ThunderIdeal]

i'm actually a bit shocked that hotmail is forcing our hands like this. gmail and hotmail have been sniffing for phone numbers for some time now, they say it's for account security but obviously millions of freeloading customers isn't a good business model unless those freeloading customers are ACTUALLY your PRODUCT. linking accounts to phone numbers increases the value of this product, it seems like hotmail is ditching account-holders who don't want to play along.

what i am curious to know is, how long ago did they decide on this course of action?

did they have something like this in mind all along?

what else is completely planned out before being released onto unsuspecting society?

you've gotta wonder about stuff.

[teamwhy]

lavabit was the best email till it got shut down in August

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit

[Torsten]

You can get a $1 sim card with a $25 recharge that keeps the account alive for 12 months. Put it in an old phone and for $26 you have a phone number that you can use for advertising in classified ads, giving out to people your drunken brain thinks it would like to shag, and to get your FB, hotmail and google security back-up all sorted. Much easier than whining about how a free service is forcing you to do things you don't want to. Why on earth did you think it was free in the first place? YOU are the product.

You never actually have to answer the phone. Just keep it on silent and check for txt messages every few days - or when you've just been locked out of FB or hotmail.

My FB has been hacked twice and if it wasn't for the secondary security protocols I would have lost my account each time. Smartest $26 I can spend.

[IndianDreaming]

Usually you get a few free email accounts with your internet provider... If you use that you can boycott the advertising companies that scan though your stuff for marketing information (google, Hotmail, fb etc...)

You could register your own domain if you wanted something funky and have it forward email to your internet provider email - [email protected]/org/net/xxx

[ThunderIdeal]

it would be easy enough to do the research ourselves but can anyone recommend the best mobile provider for such purposes??

(eg sim remains useable for maximum time, at minimum cost, and maybe even gets decent value from the cost of recharge)

[Torsten]

if you are rural and you need NextG thentelstra is the only option. Their cheapest long life [12 months] plan is $70. The cheaper ones are 6 months or less.

http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/prepaid-mobiles/offers-rates/long-life/

If you don't need NextG then go with vodafone. $1 buys you a sim card and $20 a 365 day recharge. Just remember you literally get no talk time for that $20, so if you want to use your phone for occasional booty calls then might as well get a bigger prepaid.

http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/prepaid/home/options/365

[Foo]

I have found that most of SIMS over the years has stayed active for periods over 12 months after i had ran out of credit.

Virgin $50 12months of credit btw.

Dont forget you will always get a grace period after your credit runs out. No sane phone company will cut your number the day after you run out of credit. What kind of sense does that make!

[Torsten]

you might be confusing this with not losing your number. Telstra and vodafone have hard cut off dates for their services, but will keep the number available to you for about 6-12 months. Telstra has cut off two of my sims recently and even gave away my number within 2 months.

if your telstra or vodafone sim stayed active beyond the expected 'expiry' date then chances are someone accidentially sold you a 12 months recharge. That's how I found out about the vodafone 365 recharge. I was buying my normal 60 day one , but after 55 days it wasn't sending me any reminders. when I checked it was another 10 months.

eatfoo, it makes perfect sense to cut off sim cards at first opportunity if the company charges heavily for the replacement [eg nextG].

[Francois le Danque]

No sane phone company will cut your number the day after you run out of credit. What kind of sense does that make!

i dunno man, did you hear about how the government can empty your bank account if you don't touch it for 3 years, then you often have to pay to get it back!

[nothinghead]

true, just more money

Not sure what you mean. You can create a free email address with any of the big companies and use that as the alternative.