Mastodon, please save me ...

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

Mastodon, please save me ...

I'm in Australia and my UK phone is unable to connect to the mobile phone networks. Apparently the networks now refuse to allow your phone to connect unless it's 5G variable y.

So I can't access my funds, and might not be able to check in for my flight, because both require 2FA visa SMS.

Suggestions?

[gjm@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo That sounds absolutely bonkers, but surely there must be processes that can be used by people who literally don't have a smartphone. E.g., checking in in person at the airport, paying for things with a credit/debit card, getting cash from ATMs.

(But ... Australian mobile networks only turned off their _3G_ coverage two years ago. Do they even have 5G everywhere? This sounds to me like it must be some sort of misunderstanding.)

[fckprknsns@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo Maybe buy a cheep local burner phone in a store, put your sim into that, do what you need the 2FA SMS for and then reset it and return it in the store and hopefully get your money back.

[tree@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo I can't say anything to fund access, but regarding flight check-in I recently couldn't check-in online for a flight. They let me check-in at the airport (if you arrive with enough time) but might not have your seats together/have given away your seats if you are travelling with a group (and as a bonus we got admonished for not being able to use our phones) so we were split up on the plane. We still were able to fly though.