Re: "palatable $520"?
I realise things are moving away from the model, but many people still buy phones on contract which makes it seem much easier. I saw an advert this morning for a Pixel 4 with "unlimited" data for £44pcm - a phone that retails SIM-free for somewhere around £600 IIRC.
I personally will not go back to a contract phone, and I will be looking to spend no more than £150 on my next handset, but I can see how a lump sum of even just £150 could seem more difficult for some people to afford than £44.
Ironically given the subject matter under discussion, the small print of the advert points out that the unlimited data plan is a "lite" plan which limits the download speed to 2Mbps. You don't even need 4G for that - 2Mbps is trivially achievable on 3G HSDPA.
M.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
