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this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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Privacy
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Why exactly did a telecom company need SSNs anyway?
Edited to add, this was a rhetorical question and more a comment on the awful series of systems in the USA that leads a SSN to be used by telecom companies.
Most people get suckered into signing a contract and using a "postpaid" plan, where you get the service for a month and then pay for it. That requires a credit check and credit reporting, since you get the service before payment. You don't have to give out your SSN if you sign up for "prepaid" cell phone plans, which offer less discounts and benefits but are generally cheaper for the service they provide. The only catch is you pay for the month before you use it, but this makes canceling as easy as stopping payment.
I'm on a prepaid plan, and got in on a really good deal. They were offering $25/month off indefinitely for signing up for auto-pay (Basically 35% off, lol). It made the plan cheaper and better than most of their monthly plans. I'm happy to know it also saved me from giving out my SSN.
Problem is all prepaid plans are MVNOs that throttle speeds
The main carriers offer prepaid plans, and there is no postpaid plan that doesn't throttle speeds after you go over a certain amount when the towers a busy.
The MVNOs throttle and deprioritise in high traffic times too.
Also, throttling at 30GB is a lot Different than at 300GB which is what I went from on Visible to Verizon (visible is Verizon’s prepaid service, and it still worked like an MVNO by slowing down during the day and rush hour while Verizon clicked along streaming 4K)