Okay, I'd like to know how to do that. In South Africa, I couldn't open a bank account without a smart phone. They will not let you do that. So I had to get one. When I finally opened one, even if I wanted to buy something on the web, I needed a phone in order for them to activate the debit card. Phones are intrinsic to everything in South Africa - possibly because it has a huge homeless population. Everybody has to have a phone.

When I arrived in Germany, the bureacrasy was beyond anything I've ever experienced. I needed a phone for multiple things. You have to go for an interview everytime you move house. Never heard of something like that before I moved to Germany. I gave up on Germany 10 weeks after arriving.

Now I'm in Portugal. Guess what. Need a phone for a bank account. Need a phone for residency. Need a phone for tax number. Need a phone for this and that.

It seems that any official agency in the west needs your phone. I would throw away my phone in a minute if I didn't need it for offical stuff. (And I would then be without reading material).

Please tell me how you get past those things.