I think you can still get around that with some effort.
In 2010, I purchased a dumb phone/sim card for use on a prepaid plan. At the time it was the only way to get onto a super cheap prepaid plan since they wouldn't sell you a sim/the plan directly. I then put the sim into my own purchased smart phones(multiple nexus devices and a one plus one). For convenience reasons, I refill my account online with a cc but I technically could simply buy the t-mobile refill cards for cash then activate the time on them.
As far as I know, there's nothing stopping me from doing this fresh again with a new prepaid phone and then never associating my real identity in any way.
In 2010, I purchased a dumb phone/sim card for use on a prepaid plan. At the time it was the only way to get onto a super cheap prepaid plan since they wouldn't sell you a sim/the plan directly. I then put the sim into my own purchased smart phones(multiple nexus devices and a one plus one). For convenience reasons, I refill my account online with a cc but I technically could simply buy the t-mobile refill cards for cash then activate the time on them.
As far as I know, there's nothing stopping me from doing this fresh again with a new prepaid phone and then never associating my real identity in any way.