Buy an unlocked phone. Then, go see about trying Mint Mobile or MyTello. I currently pay $6 a month for a 2GB data plan and no minutes (currently, but I have Wi-Fi calling). The most you’re looking to spend for an unlimited Data/Minutes plan is $25 a month through MyTello.
What I’m saying is - you’re paying too much for what you’re dealing with. Do yourself a favor and save. The only thing you should be paying for that’s a little pricey is a decent phone.
I think the bigger issue with the entirety of Linux as a whole is, getting everyone on the same page to make a distro that everyone can use and not be intimidated by. There’s a distro for everyone, but there are still obstacles in some distros that people are going to run into, that’ll make them turn back to Windows.
Whether it can’t run a game they played, run a piece of software natively, driver support and maybe even features they thought were best suited on Windows than Linux.