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Quick, who's your mobile phone provider? Despite what it says up there, it may not be who you expect.

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You see, many countries only have a small handful of companies

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that own the backend infrastructure, such as cell towers and data servers

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that make up the mobile network you use every day. For example, there are only three such national operators

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providing service to our friends down in the United States, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

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But if you're an American, I'm sure you've seen commercials for Boost Mobile,

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Consumer Cellular, Google Fi, and many others.

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And many of these promise nationwide coverage.

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So how do they pull this off if they don't even have their own towers?

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Each of these companies is an example of what we call an MVNO.

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No, that's not some drop house ban that you found on Apple Music.

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It stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator.

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And it's exactly what it sounds like, a mobile company that operates virtually,

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that is, without owning their own infrastructure. But what the heck is the point of that?

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Well, it turns out this kind of arrangement can be a win, win, win for the big carriers,

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the MVNOs themselves, and for customers.

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The large mobile operators get to sell off unused bandwidth that they might not otherwise make any money off of.

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The MVNOs get to buy large amounts of this unused capacity at wholesale prices,

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like some kind of Costco for radio waves. And then they pass these savings along to you, the customer.

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In fact, this is the key way that MVNOs differentiate

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themselves from the big carriers that they piggyback off of.

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They advertise similar coverage areas for lower prices.

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And some MVNOs will even buy bandwidth from multiple networks,

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which can give you even better coverage than if you bought directly from one of the big boys.

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They can also differentiate themselves from other providers by offering better customer service

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or more favorable contractual terms, sometimes no contracts at all.

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One big difference you've probably noticed if you've ever considered going with an MVNO

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is that their selection of smartphones tends to be a little more limited.

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Of course, you can always just buy your phone separately instead of through a provider,

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but the big advantage of buying it through your carrier is that you often get a subsidy or a payment plan,

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making it cheaper than purchasing it outright, at least cheaper upfront.

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But even if you get the device you wanted a good price from an MVNO, you might be in for a rude surprise

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when you dig into the details of your coverage plan.

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One of the biggest pitfalls of MVNOs is that although they often advertise

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having speeds just as fast as their parent carriers,

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those major carriers will nearly always prioritize their own customers.

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So there's a good chance that you'll experience throttling or forced slowdowns,

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both during peak usage hours and if you exceed a certain amount of data use each month.

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And to top it off, the high-speed data that you do get

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may not even be 5G. All of that said, MVNOs are not all the same,

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with some offering features and data plans that differ greatly from their competitors.

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So read the fine print before you fork your hard-earned money

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over to either a major carrier or an MVNO,

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no matter how funny or annoying the advertising might be.

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