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Comment by epistasis | Hacker News Reader

> a 5G SIM with unlimited data (something you can get for 10/15 euros a month) is cheaper than a fiber connection (that starts from 25 euros).

These sorts of prices are unheard of in the US, so incredibly low.

Something has gone deeply wrong with US telecommunications.

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You can use any one of many MVNOs to get unlimited data for around that price, say less adjusted for household income, in the USA.

A favorite of mine is https://www.usmobile.com/ which is $25/mo list price (and less if you pay for the year, or if they're having a sale) which will give you Unlimited Data and 1GB a month of global roaming data

If you pay $45 you can get unlimited data from Mint for $15/mo: https://www.mintmobile.com/plans/

It's not unheard of!

It's actually the high speed internet at home that is less competitive - the prices in Europe are unheard of.

Only some places. Netherlands is €45-60 for 1 gbps (we don't make 4x-6x the money Spaniards do), unless you live in an area that actually sees multi-line competition.

We do have an interesting sidegrade: 5G Klik & Klaar from Odido (formerly T-Mobile / Deutsche Telekom) for €26. If you point it the right way out your window, you can get 700-1000 mbps down and 150 (capped) mbps up. Ping is around 35ms. Horrid modem firmware though, you get ping spikes up to 400-850ms (!!) under load due to bufferbloat, but you can of course solve that with your own router and SQM :+)

Is this line of site to a very high mast? Enabled because the Netherlands is so flat?

I do use US Mobile, and I recently switched to it because T-mobile made it so difficult to pay a bill, it was nearly impossible to get them to accept money.

And a ~decade ago in SF I did have Sonic 1Gbps symmetric fiber for something like $40 or $50/month, but that too is twice the cost of Italy.

In the U.S. I perceive MVNOs to be a scam. Like Tracfone was OK in 2011 but somewhere afterwards it became normal to go around rural upstate NY and no service and go around NYC and no service and go to LA and no service.

This year I got a real phone with a real plan and I have coverage in many places now me I can finally see why people get excited about apps.

That's kind of a broad brush, Google Fi is great, especially the fact that they work mostly seamlessly for the same price in like every country, and they're an MVNO.

It proves that you can’t trust the claim that “it is the same network”, I mean it is the same network but you may find yourself riding the back of the bus and there is no independent way to check what service you are actually getting.

Well I never expected it to be treated exactly the same as their first party customers, did you? Especially if I’m paying a much lower rate. Just have to evaluate the actual results, and hop if you’re unhappy. I’ve been extremely happy with mine, so I’ve stuck with it. It’s a bad choice if you’re out and about a lot, since it’s not cheap when you go unlimited data, but working from home on WiFi, the metered option, I end up paying like $30-$40/mo, and there’s no need to go get a new sim when I travel. For a different lifestyle shape, I’d be shopping for one that fit that better.

I have both T-Mobile via a family plan and US Mobile (AT&T MVNO) via a yearly plan.

US Mobile serves as my data eSIM, where it gives me unlimited hotspot 20GB of roaming/month. Previously I bought eSIMs when traveling since T-Mobile is only 5GB/mo hotspot/roaming and earlier at 256 Kbps.

T-Mobile is better for calls and international texts, due to it being unlimited. I also prefer keeping a non-MVNO as my call/text number so I can go to a T-Mobile store and activate a spare phone if I lose mine (which I never did), or my phone fails. With US Mobile, I'm not sure how I'd recover a lost phone.

Since the Pixel 10 Pro lacks a SIM card slot, this is important. But hey, I used my Pixel 3 on Sprint with eSIM; I went T-Mobile 3 months before they merged.

US Mobile has done well with me, although anything not-T-Mobile is really slow nowadays.

Can't speak for Italy, but there have been some consequences in many EU jurisdictions. The EU has been pushing HARD for competition, etc, but it has left many European telecoms in debt-heavy financial situations that has caused issues around future investment and in some countries the (mobile) coverage is good on paper, but the networks are themselves actually terrible (looking at you Germany).

But yeah, it's otherwise a problem with competition enforcement.

At the same time a software developer earns 40-50k, perhaps a little higher in Milan or Rome.

State sanctioned and encouraged anti trust behavior will do that

> These sorts of prices are unheard of in the US, so incredibly low.

The EU also has incredibly low salaries.

Gone? It started rotten with Bell and hasn't gotten much better.

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