Verizon demands $880 from rural library for just 0.44GB of roaming data

Networks need to negotiate mutual roaming agreements. Verizon and others didn't give a shit for many years, billed absurdly high rates to their own customers and paid whatever the roaming network wanted.

Now you can get reciprocity... maybe Telus customers in Canada want to roam free/cheap on Verizon, and Verizon starts caring and wants to roam free on Telus. They make an agreement where there's no roaming cost. Obviously this can go wrong if either company overloads the other, but it's how modern agreements work

Domestic roaming is different. In this case, providers will work together favorably if it's a regional and a national carrier trying to extend out each other's coverage footprints (good example would be T-Mobile roaming on US Cellular because they have similar spectrum holdings, but in different markets). Now where the gouging kicks in is between direct national competitors: I remember seeing court filings from T-Mobile suing AT&T for them billing something like $17/MB for roaming access to their 3G network in underserved areas. The suit was because AT&T had to provide roaming access as part of their acquisition breakup agreement, but the agreement never stipulated the exact cost for that roaming arrangement. T-Mobile wanted the court to enforce a 'fair market value' on it.

TL;DR: Company needs to give a shit about its customers to properly negotiate international roaming arrangements, or bill them at an absurd enough rate that they won't incur a loss.

It was really common in Michigan as well, even inside some buildings very clearly on the US mainland.