MVNOs are simply phone brands (carriers) that do not have cell phone towers (aka, wireless network); instead, they piggyback off of a major network's towers so that you get coverage. You may get a cheaper plan, but you may experience slower data when the big networks prioritize their own customers over you.

Best value is calculated by dividing the Plan Price by GB of Data. Note: Plans with unlimited data are set to 250 GB so that we have a propper baseline and are comparing apples to apples.

Throttling is a very hard metric to extrapulate from every carrier, because you don't know exactly when they are going to do it and you don't know how often and at what consumption of data + speeds (even though carriers try to warn you beforehand). Reviews definitely take into account service and throttling, so carriers with better reviews usually do better at providing faster, more reliable network speeds.

Best overall value takes into account Price, GB of Data, Minutes, Texts, Best Value Score, Number of Features, and Average Rating, each with different weights associated with them varying by importance.