Let’s face it: Mobile phone carriers kind of suck.

Some of them are better than others, to be sure. And most have gotten a little less bad over the years — almost even bordering on the point of “not too terrible,” in some cases. But by and large, carriers are right up there with airlines in terms of the levels of warm-and-fuzzy feelings they inspire (not to mention the number of absurd surcharges they tack on at every possible turn).

The smaller-fry prepaid carriers provide a great way to skirt the sky-high bills and sneaky fees that tend to come with big carrier territory, but they’re often accompanied by their own sets of compromises — things like restrictions on hotspot use and a second-level-of-hell-caliber customer service experience.

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