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Comment by leakycap | Hacker News Reader

Such a cool write-up, I enjoyed the screenshots of the admin interfaces ... which look exactly as bad as I'd hoped

Sad to see Mobile-X MVNO as the preferred SIM in the photos shown, but I wonder if an MVNO has local-level data to detect a situation like this when hundreds of phones are in one area and don't move. Postpaid carriers running their own network might easily connect the dots between SIM/accounts/phone towers... but the piggyback nature of MVNO network management probably makes even detecting this behavior even harder.

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> I wonder if an MVNO has local-level data to detect a situation like this when hundreds of phones are in one area and don't move

MVNOs don't care because they collect the profit without having to deal with any of the network issues. The carriers in turn only care when it impacts performance for legitimate customers, as they also see a piece of the pie.

> MVNOs don't care

This is an excellent point

I assumed there would be anti-fraud measures blocking this kind of activity, but if this is a paying customer it isn't necessarily fraud/bad to the carrier or mvno

It'd depend on the mvno and their costs, but if the user fees pay for the underlying costs, the mvno is making money, and their user numbers go up, which makes for happy graphs.

They can also cancel or limit sims that do too much messaging or calling, which drives new user signups and makes more happy graphs. Doesn't really matter to them if all the abusers live in the same office.

Increased volume also likely reduces their unit costs with the underlying operator and messaging/calling providers, so even break even abusers help their bottom line by increasing margins for normal customers.

An MVNO seldom has access to per-cell data. They get the bulk traffic delivered to them (sometimes) and billing info, and that is that.

Damn Mobile-X I hadn't heard of them but looks like a good deal. Maybe this is actually a marketing exercise?

Tello isn't quite as cheap as Mobile-X, but for low use it is also great https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

If you use an Apple Watch cellular, Verizon's Visible seems to be the best price currently but sadly doesn't have a pay-for-use option.

There are plenty of cheaper, better MVNOs than Mobile X.

Better in what way? MobileX may have some properties that are attractive to criminals.

Mobile-X is cheap and is "pay for what you use"

I don't think there's some other seedy reason - Mobile-X is just the least expensive option I know of right now in the US that can be purchased at retail, so that is probably the main reason

More data etc, lower price.

I checked less than 90 days ago, and Mobile-X was cheaper than any other MVNO with retail availability in the US.

Do you have links to services that cost less, per line/sim? I don't think they exist, especially at retail.

I might then be completely wrong.

Do you want to keep us in suspense, or are these just MVNOs you've heard exist but don't have names of them?

Off the top of my head Good2Go is better and cheaper. I don't have the names of any others, but get AI to do a deep search and it'll find a whole bunch and show you stats for them all.

AI deep research is not needed to see that

$4.08 a month for 1GB on Mobile-X

is a better value than

$10.00 a month for 1GB on Good2Go

$5/mo if you pay for a year.

Actually I had an extra requirement that it be secure. Mint is pretty good at that and has a brand I trust. Not sure about the other networks.

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