> TLDR scams and hostile UX have made mobile phones unusable.

I’m guess that I’m in too much of a backwater, but here in New Zealand I couldn’t tell you the last time I got a spam call and have probably had <5 ever.

I’ve had a few spam sms messages, but these are also rare.

New Zealand is amongst the countries which fare pretty well, averaging about 1 spam call/month. Rates vary considerably worldwide, Brazil peaks at 29. And within countries rates vary considerably by individual, with some people reporting virtually no calls, others many per day. As with much else in technology and mass communications, individual experience vary hugely.

See my earlier comment: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49131195>.

Citing "Robocalls: A Worldwide or US-only Problem? Analyzing Spam and Fraud in International Phone Calls" (30 Jun 2026) <https://arxiv.org/html/2606.31790> and a Hiya report <https://work.hiya.com/hubfs/2025/Global%20Call%20Threat%20Re...> (PDF).