The Secure Equipment Act of 2021 effectively prevents Americans from being able to use many (but not all) modern Chinese phones. While you may see them for sale on Amazon etc, you cannot activate them on any carrier.
I saved a lot of money back in the day by buying a phone secondhand and getting my phone number through Google voice. I’m sure there are other similar services that can give you a VOIP phone number, you’ll only have connection when there’s wi-fi but if that’s not a dealbreaker it’s a route you can take.
The Secure Equipment Act of 2021 effectively prevents Americans from being able to use many (but not all) modern Chinese phones. While you may see them for sale on Amazon etc, you cannot activate them on any carrier.
You can’t just buy a sim card and pop it into whatever?
No, the IMEI number on the phone are explicitly blacklisted for not being FCC approved.
I saved a lot of money back in the day by buying a phone secondhand and getting my phone number through Google voice. I’m sure there are other similar services that can give you a VOIP phone number, you’ll only have connection when there’s wi-fi but if that’s not a dealbreaker it’s a route you can take.