Oddbean

It definitely is. Like I said, I'm using my phone as a hotspot for all my other devices, including television. They launched an investigation of my data use a few months ago, but I successfully fought them off. They were concerned that I was using it for some commercial purpose that's outside the terms of service. But I carefully itemized the various devices I was using, and attested that all use was strictly personal, within the bounds of the contract, and they agreed.

So, part of me wants to look for cheaper prices, but I worry that if I switch, the new carrier won't be as easily appeared, and they'll cancel my service. That would be tragic for me. And I doubt Verizon would be happy to have me back as a customer if I tried to sign back up for service after getting shit-canned by Mint. I'll probably just stick with Verizon because even if it is more expensive, I don't want to risk getting canceled after a month.

Sounds like you have KYC problems. Have you considered being your own ISP? There is this permissionles money that doesn't care. Apparently it's really useful for people who want to be ISPs: https://npub1suw0zfxerywd4zku4gjsjde22zhzye9dl2hsll6s3z2qap75p78s66lkhp.nsite.orangesync.tech/

I don't have KYC problems. I had to submit KYC documentation for the Verizon account. I just don't want to spend $180 for broadband on top of $50-60 for a cell phone. I get exactly what I want for a single $145 bill. And I'm not interested in spending Bitcoin on monthly services. My bitcoin, with the exception of 20k sats I put aside each month for zaps and nostr relay fees, is for saving. A year from now, I don't want look back and realize I spent the equivalent of $50k on a month of internet service. Stacking, not spending.

To me it's a KYC problem when your internet service provider knows who you are and interrogates you about how many devices you use. The fiat liability that you pay them with is inherently on KYC rails because it's credit. Not sure why anyone would want to have fiat in 2024...

It's only an issue because they measure data consumption as a part of their billing infrastructure, and to determine if subscribers have exceeded their monthly allotment. Their ToS also prohibits the use of their non-commercial services for commercial purposes. So, I think they're within their legal right to investigate my data useage if I exceed certain thresholds, which I most definitely did. An individual subscriber who uses nearly a terabyte of data in one month is bound to raise questions. They weren't interested in the details of my use, only that I was only using the service for personal use. I chose to establish that by describing the devices I was using, and attesting to the fact that I was using the data exclusively for personal use. That's as far as it went. I invited them to contact me if they needed any further information, and they never did. So, it's case closed. In general, I don't think they do this regularly because I've asked all my Verizon friends and family if they've ever been investigated for their data use, and not a single person had. So, I was an outlier due to my admittedly unusual data consumption.