Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android AuthorityMost countries rely heavily on prepaid services as opposed to postpaid services, but the United States has long been an exception. That balance is slowly changing in the US as prepaid adoption is rising while postpaid growth has stalled or even slipped in some cases. The main driver is customer frustration with steady price escalations, including fee hikes, smaller autopay discounts, and direct plan increases. For example, Verizon recently cut its myPlan autopay discount from ten dollars to five dollars, and all three major carriers have raised their infrastructure fees. T-Mobile also stopped including taxes and fees in its advertised pricing.I have argued before that prepaid is now the better choice for many consumers. The real questions are what caused this shift, whether it could have been avoided, and how worried the big three should be about prepaid competitors.