In the past, I’d use cellular data to create the account + make my first few posts with and once it was up & running for a week or two, I could transition to using it with a VPN no problem.
Reddit in general is infuriating to use. If you’re not shadowbanned (which is just a slimy practice: how about straight-up TELL ME IF I CAN POST UP FRONT: YES OR NO. No wasting my time with typing up posts), you’ll just encounter other ridiculous roadblocks that are somewhat subreddit specific but tend to exist in most places like: “Your post has been removed (after you just spent a while typing it up with a bunch of details). Please read rule 3, 7, 9 and the entire 5,000 word FAQ before posting”.
Or, “…you must have 50 to 100+ karma in this subreddit in order to post threads” which can be an obnoxious requirement if you’re just trying to ask a question under a category you don’t know much about, therefore you have nothing to offer for making regular posts in there in order to gain that 50 to 100+ stupid karma points. Even if it were a topic you knew about, the notion I should have to waste my time racking up 50 to 100 points and hoping people give me an “upvote” is ridiculous. I couldn’t care less about the excuse for “spam” since there’s tons of spam, scams and AI slop on reddit as it is.