If AT&T just announces an uncarrier plan with reasonable prices, is there a reason for MVNOs? I feel like people are using MVNOs to find some bargain, but at the same time it's just the same if T-Mobile and AT&T offered more reasonable BYOD plans.
Its not really the same thing. MVNO's offer a wider range of plans other than just the talk/text/data model that is pushed with smartphones. On mvno's you can get pay as you go, or no data plan, and also plans for very light users, like maybe 200 minutes. Obviously these things aren't really available through postpaid, at least with a smartphone.
I don't think post-paid carriers will ever be able to be competitive with mvnos, as the mvno's dont usually advertise the network that they run on, as they they don't want the mvno to cannibalize their own business. Also mvno's don't provide the kind of end user support that the post-paids can and so that results in lower priced plans.
What phone do you have - is it a 4G LTE? Are there any limitations on it afterward? It says LTE phones are $60 but you got it to work without sending it in?
Why/how are they doing it for free if PagePlus charges?
You can reprogram the 4g phone yourself if you want to. I did one last years and it wasn't fun. I spent probably 4-5 hours on it but got it to work. Directions are available at howard forum's page plus/phone mod subforum.
As far as the $10 activation fee, I don't exactly know why they charge that but dealers don't. Kitty wireless also offers free activations from time to time. I have a login to their dealer portal and activations are always free there, which means that dealers can activate for free. My guess is that page plus themselves will charge $10 for activations simply because they can. Actually, though, since you get $2 in airtime for free, its possible that maybe they charge so that people just don't keep getting new numbers so they can keep getting free airtime.