So a bit different from here then with boxes of phones for $9 at Harvey Norman with a $19 prepay sims attached.... ;-)

richms:

 

Yeah apparantly they have tightened up on all the places selling them without proper ID checks etc recently. Before you could just get them from most places and they had pre-registered them with made up stuff.

 

It's still very easy to walk into a store and walk out with a SIM. Pretty much all SIMs are now sold unactivated and need to be activated online or via phone. The big carriers all collect and some validate ID, but some some of the MVNO's you can still register without too much info, on the assumption the retailer has collected the right info. I expect ACMA will crack down on this soon.