I highly recommend looking into an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). There are inexpensive pre-paid plans that use the major cell network towers, and you

I highly recommend looking into an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). There are inexpensive pre-paid plans that use the major cell network towers, and you get the same speeds. I recommend Straight Talk; their plans are very cheap for the data you get, but there might be other cheaper services. I agree it's taking them a while, but I've never built a phone before, so I am cutting them slack. I find it easy to believe that it is not vaporware. They have videos of working devices, something that can be replicated in mass, not renders etc. They've shipped dev boards.