[grishka]

> Chile, you virtually needed to be a citizen, as I recall.

I heard something similar about Russia after recent changes actually, it could as well be impossible for non-residents so tourists just stick with international roaming and public wifi. IIRC there's a catch-22 situation where you need a Gosuslugi (online government services portal) account to buy a sim, but you need a Russian phone number to sign up for one. As a citizen, you just need your ID (internal passport).

[throw-the-towel]

But of course, the public Wifi also requires authentication. With, you guessed it, a phone number.

[grishka]

Yes, that's another law they have. Can't access the internet anonymously, basically. And yes, foreign phone numbers do work.

Though I've seen, plenty of times, smaller places have a "public" wifi with a password, and the password is just written on a piece of paper somewhere. That must technically violate that law. But you know, laws in Russia...

[pezezin]

The first and last time I was in Russia was in 2019, passing by Moscow airport, and you already required a phone number to use the public WiFi, but any foreign number was OK.

[codedokode]

Foreigners must provide their biometric data to buy a local SIM card. They better just use a tourist SIM card.