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Comment by JoshTko | Hacker News Reader

They really aren't expensive anymore in the US if you shop around. You can get unlimited data, talk, text for $18/mo per month from US mobile, and you can even choose which network to use Verizon, tmobile, or ATT. US mobile has a new feature that lets you switch the carrier network for $2 per switch.

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I wonder how much those cheap MVNO prices are subsidized by everyone who has a contract directly with the carrier though. Going directly with Verizon or AT&T is super expensive compared to Europe. At the end of the day, someone needs to build & maintain the physical infrastructure. I don't know if the carriers could keep operating if everyone switched to MVNOs, they might not have enough revenue to maintain the infrastructure. North America is pretty large and not densely populated.

That being said, the major carriers here absolutely suck and utilize very scummy business practices that aren't that far off of a payday loan place. Financing an iPhone with Verizon really isn't that far off of payday loan rates, it's a horrible deal.

MVNOs do not guarantee the same level of service as the main flagship carriers who actually own and build the infra. I'm a customer of a MVNO that uses Verizon network. If I go into a crowded area, I can definitely see some traffic deprioritization happening to my traffic but I'm willing to make that tradeoff for saving a ton of money (majority of the time I use my phone on Wifi anyway).

But since I switched, I have convinced several other family members to also switch to a MVNO to save money. It will be interesting to see what happens if a lot more people make the same tradeoff. I wonder will they just intentionally make the MVNO experience so horrible by throttling to get everyone to upgrade, or they will just increase the rates on the MVNO plans so there is not a substantial difference anymore?

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