"But how can an 'international data plan' be a thing, since the whole point is that the Internet doesn't have borders?" (some rando I mumbled to about this) Th

"But how can an 'international data plan' be a thing, since the whole point is that the Internet doesn't have borders?" (some rando I mumbled to about this) That's because nation states aren't the only gatekeepers. Those centralized services are also gatekeepers. Not only the services, the people who put the brick in your hands. A lot of free or low cost phones in places where people don't have much income are essentially tethered to some AOL-like service, like Facebook. Really, your internet connection is to (or optimized for) Facebook: it's e.g. a "Facebook phone". Anything that's not "Facebook" counts against your data plan.