List of United States wireless communications service providers

This is a list of United States wireless communications service providers. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), lists approximately 30 facilities-based wireless service providers in the United States as members. Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) has over 100 members. Aside from the facilities-based providers, there are over 50 virtual operators that use the top four networks to provide service.

Largest U.S. wireless providers

The big three wireless telecommunications facilities-based service providers by subscriber count in the United States are:

* Verizon: 142.8 million (Q2 2022)
* T-Mobile US: 110.0 million (Q2 2022)
* AT&T Mobility: 101.8 million (Q2 2022)

Each active SIM card is considered a subscriber. Wholesale customers include users of machine to machine networks and mobile virtual network operators that operate on the host network, but are managed by wholesale partners. The counts above were taken from each provider’s quarterly reports. Starting with Q2 2020, the three top carriers no longer report wholesale subscriber count. AT&T also does not include "connected devices" count, however it is not known if Verizon or T-Mobile include these devices. As such, it is possible that the ranking above could be inaccurate.

Technologies used

The top 3 wireless providers have all standardized on 4G LTE as their wireless communication standard, which has been deployed across the entire coverage area; however, the LTE bands used by each provider remain largely incompatible. All 3 wireless providers also maintain legacy networks; of these, AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM and 3G UMTS (mostly converted to 4G HSPA+), while Verizon, Sprint (now a subsidiary of T-Mobile), and U.S. Cellular use cdmaOne/EV-DO/ 1xRTT. However, Verizon is in the process of shutting down their non-LTE networks. Their 1X and EV-DO networks are currently supported, but will be discontinued on December 31, 2022. On December 31, 2020, Verizon will no longer allow phones that don’t support VoLTE to be activated on their network (tablets and hotspots can still be activated as long as they support LTE). While the top 3 wireless providers operate nationwide wireless networks which cover most of the population in the United States, U.S. Cellular and other smaller carriers provide native network coverage across selected regions of the United States while supplementing nationwide coverage through roaming agreements with other carriers.

As of 2016, all operators have adopted LTE. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint sell SIM cards through their retail channels, both in-store and online; however, the selection of devices compatible with Verizon and Sprint networks is limited. All carriers have enabled VoLTE on their networks.

AT&T shut down its 2G GSM network on December 31, 2016. T-Mobile plans to reduce spectrum allocated for GSM and use the network mostly for nomadic and non-mobile GSM services through 2020. Verizon introduced their first LTE-only phone, LG Exalt LTE, in June 2017.

Facilities-based service providers

The following tables lists service providers that own and manage their network equipment and facilities. Unless specified otherwise the subscriber count includes subscribers on the virtual networks hosted.

Contiguous US and Hawaii

Alaska

Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands

Guam and Northern Mariana Islands

American Samoa

Defunct, merged and acquired operators

Some operators listed below may still function as a separate brand but they no longer own any infrastructure (towers, network, etc.).

See also

*List of United States mobile virtual network operators
*List of CDMA2000 networks
*List of UMTS networks
*List of LTE networks
*List of mobile network operators
*List of mobile network operators of the Americas
*List of mobile network operators of the Asia Pacific region

References

{{Telecommunications

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