As a user I can tell you I won't pay even 1 sat for a relay service unless it does a hell of a lot more than relay. We just need to make it easier for people to host their own public relays. That's the solution.

That's already super easy that an idiot like me hosts many of them. You can even do it straight from Umbrel these days with the cloudflare app if you want to get even simpler than what I use.

What would happen if every Nostr user used their own relay? If I followed 200 people, my phone would need to establish 200 network connections with 200 relays.

Very cool, I didn't know about that, thanks!

I fully support everyone running one for their own community. That will likely be enough for 50% of the population. If you just want to speak to the people that are directly connected in your communities that's already nostr. The problem is building large enough relays that hold and distribute notes for even larger groups. if you want to reach those large audiences for whatever reason why not throw some sats to the big relays to be included on their billboard?

It'll be on my to-do for a simple guide soon!

Guide sounds good!