rural areas don't have a choice. mobile data is the only access they may have and verizon knew that from the start when they first offered the service. IMO, unlimited means unlimited. if you get kicked off because of usage, then it should never be sold as unlimited. They should never even use that term.
as far as third party being the culprit, doubt it, according to the article, it looked like verizon was under contract to pay them the roaming fees or x amount in lieu of the fees. they were making money from verizon.
i guess that is enough ranting...