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Comment by walterbell | Hacker News Reader

> foreign competitors are still prohibited from coming into the market

There is some foreign competition via roaming, e.g. both T-Mobile and AT&T have US mobile postpaid plans with unlimited Canadian roaming, https://www.att.com/international/canada-roaming/ & https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/use-your-phone-in-...

For devices with low data (text/email/web) usage, there are vendors of global prepaid eSIMs that last 6-24 months, which roam on Bell and Rogers 5G networks, priced around $5/GB, e.g. Eskimo (Singapore) and AIS (Thailand) eSIMs.

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>There is some foreign competition via roaming, e.g. both T-Mobile and AT&T have US mobile postpaid plans with unlimited Canadian roaming, https://www.att.com/international/canada-roaming/ & https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/use-your-phone-in-...

Those don't seem that much cheaper compared to local competitors. For instance the cheapest plan at&t offers is $30 USD/month, but public mobile is offering a 40GB unlimited talk text plan for $29 CAD/month ($21 USD).

> Some competitors are present indirectly, e.g. both T-Mobile and AT&T have US mobile postpaid plans with unlimited Canadian roaming

These aren’t real options as anyone calling you back will be forced to pay long distance.

If you need inbound PSTN calls and SMS (instead of text+audio messengers like WhatsApp, Facetime, Matrix, Signal), you can get a Canadian VOIP PSTN number for USD $3/month, e.g. https://www.callcentric.com/dids/pay_per_minute, which can "ring" your phone via SIP client app, call forward from Canada to any global number at your expense, or relay audio voicemails as mp3 via email.

Ok, now explain that to enough people that this solution actually works as a real proxy for competition.

It allows individuals who do care about competition to stop funding oligopolists.

I agree, though I would prefer a solution that actually leads to the weakening of the oligopolists.

VoIP.ms would be cheaper for a DID

> Not for extended international use; you must reside in the U.S. and primary usage must occur on our network. Device must register on our network before international use. Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming. Coverage not available in some areas; we are not responsible for our partners’ networks.

> AT&T ROAM NORTH AMERICA FEATURE: Allows plan data, talk & text usage with no roaming charges in and to Mexico/Canada. Data: Allows domestic plan data usage in Mexico/Canada.

Eskimo (Singapore telco) has both North America and Global eSIMs.

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