HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and
wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...
of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the fourth largest wireless carrier in the United States. Together with its sister brands Gen Mobile and Ting Mobile, it serves 7.2 million subscribers as of March 31, 2025. Boost Mobile was founded as a joint venture between Peter Adderton, Craig Cooper, Kirt McMaster, and
Nextel Communications Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and form ...
in 2001. It was purchased by Nextel in 2003 and, as a result of the merger between
Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. Th ...
and Nextel, then became owned by Sprint in 2005. It was then acquired by
Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...
on July 1, 2020, following the merger between Sprint and
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
. After Dish's merger with
EchoStar EchoStar Corporation is an American telecommunications company, specializing in satellite communication, wireless telecommunications, and internet services. Echostar also provides multichannel video programming and mobile services through its ...
on December 31, 2023, Boost Mobile became a subsidiary of EchoStar. The company operates a 5G network covering over 80% of the American population. In addition to its native 5G network, Boost Mobile provides service through the
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
and T-Mobile networks.


History


Joint venture and Nextel ownership

After Peter Adderton founded Boost Mobile Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in 2000, Peter Adderton, Craig Cooper, and Kirt McMaster brought the Boost Mobile brand to the United States in 2001 as a joint venture with
Nextel Communications Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and form ...
. Using Nextel's
iDEN Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) is a mobile telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a Trunked radio system, trunked radio and a mobile phone, cellular telephone. It was called ...
network, Boost Mobile offered an unlimited
push-to-talk Push-to-talk (PTT), also known as press-to-transmit, is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines, including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode. H ...
service, marketed as only costing a dollar a day, at a time when cellphone plans offering unlimited talk were still rare. The service was initially exclusive to markets in areas of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
and was marketed towards urban minorities, often using urban
slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
in advertisements. Eventually, Nextel became the sole owner of Boost's United States operations in 2003. Nextel began to expand the brand elsewhere in the United States in late 2004 after its acquisition by Sprint Corporation. Boost Mobile then became a subsidiary of the merged company, Sprint Nextel Corporation.


Sprint ownership

Boost Mobile still continued to use the previous Nextel iDEN infrastructure for its service, but in 2006, began to offer a new ''Unlimited by Boost Mobile'' service in select markets using Sprint's
CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...
network, offering unlimited talk, text, and internet. While the plans resulted in significant growth for Boost Mobile, Boost did not begin shifting to CDMA entirely. To compete with unlimited offerings from competitors in the wireless industry, Boost Mobile announced on January 15, 2009, that it would launch a Monthly Unlimited Plan. The plan was accompanied by re-focusing the brand towards a broader demographic than before. The new unlimited plan resulted in a net gain of more than 674,000 customers in about three months. Despite this lift, Nextel overall suffered a gross subscriber loss of 1.25 million contract subscriptions. The unexpected surge in popularity for the service caused significant strain on the Nextel iDEN networkas many customers reported long and sometimes week-long delays in receiving text messages. A Boost Mobile spokesman said that they did not anticipate the level of popularity for the new service and that efforts to improve the network had been implemented to help mitigate the problem. At the 2010
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
, Boost Mobile announced it would begin to offer a new unlimited plan using Sprint's CDMA network. Sprint also acquired fellow prepaid wireless provider Virgin Mobile USA in 2010both Boost and Virgin Mobile were re-organized into a new group within Sprint, encompassing the two brands and other no-contract phone services offered by the company. In 2019, as part of the merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, Sprint agreed to divest its prepaid wireless businesses, including Boost Mobile, in order to reduce
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
concerns. In January 2020, Sprint discontinued the Virgin Mobile USA brand and transferred its customers to Boost Mobile.


Dish Network ownership

On April 1, 2020, Sprint merged with
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
; the surviving company, T-Mobile, in accordance of the terms of the merger, entered into a $1.4 billion deal to sell Boost Mobile to
Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...
. The sale was completed on July 1. All new Boost Mobile customers used the T-Mobile network, with the remaining Sprint customers to be moved to the T-Mobile network over time. As part of the deal, Dish committed to building out a 5G network serving at least 70% of the U.S. population by June 2023 and was granted access to the T-Mobile network for seven years. To grow its wireless subscriber base, Dish acquired Ting Mobile on August 1, 2020, Republic Wireless on March 8, 2021, and Gen Mobile on September 1, 2021. On July 19, 2021, Dish Network announced it was purchasing $5 billion of wholesale wireless over the next 10 years from
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
. In exchange, Dish shares some of its 5G spectrum with AT&T. In December 2022, Dish launched a postpaid service under the spin-off brand Boost Infinite.


2023 ransomware attack

In February 2023, Boost Mobile's parent company
Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...
suffered a major
ransomware Ransomware is a type of malware that Encryption, encrypts the victim's personal data until a ransom is paid. Difficult-to-trace Digital currency, digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, cryptocurrencies are com ...
attack which resulted in internal outages, loss of service and data theft at its subsidiary companies. Boost Mobile customers reported that they were unable to contact customer service, cancel their subscription, or make payments. The outage affected customers across the U.S. Service outages lasted for more than a month, with customers reporting wait times for customer service stretching to more than 14 hours. Full service was not restored until May 2023.


EchoStar ownership

On August 8, 2023, Dish Network Corporation and EchoStar Corporation announced their intention to merge. The two companies claimed that it would grant them additional resources and flexibility in deploying connectivity services. On December 31, 2023,
EchoStar EchoStar Corporation is an American telecommunications company, specializing in satellite communication, wireless telecommunications, and internet services. Echostar also provides multichannel video programming and mobile services through its ...
completed its acquisition of
Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...
, including its wireless division. EchoStar President and CEO Hamid Akhavan promised, in May 2024, that there would be a reboot of the Boost brand in the second half of 2024. On July 17, 2024, EchoStar merged its prepaid Boost Mobile and postpaid Boost Infinite into a rebranded Boost Mobile; the company introduced new 5G unlimited plan offerings that would start at $25 per-month, and include both a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a promotion offering a price lock guarantee for postpaid subscribers. On June 6, 2025, it was reported that EchoStar Corporation was preparing to file for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
protection after the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) suspended EchoStar's ability to plan out strategic decisions for Boost Mobile.


Network

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...
began building a nationwide 5G wireless network as part of the company's strategy to expand its services beyond satellite television. After acquiring Boost Mobile, Dish began building out a standalone 5G network, that does not rely on any LTE infrastructure. In May 2022, Dish began to launch its 5G network, offering service under the "Project Genesis" brand in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. The company stated that it planned to serve at least 120 cities by the June 2023 deadline. In June 2022, Dish announced it had met the FCC mandate to provide coverage to 20% of the U.S. population. In June 2023, the company announced that it had met the requirement to provide coverage to 70% of the U.S. population by June 14, 2023. As part of EchoStar's rebranding of Boost Mobile, it began referring to its 5G wireless network as the "Boost Mobile Network" and discontinued its usage of the Dish Wireless brand. On September 18, 2024, EchoStar requested an extension for the final construction deadlines associated with several of its AWS-4, AWS-3, H Block, 700 MHz, and 600 MHz spectrum licenses until December 31, 2026, with further provisions for extension until June 14, 2028, if certain commitments are met. EchoStar committed to expand its nationwide 5G coverage to 80% of the U.S. population by December 31, 2024, and accelerate and expand its final buildout milestones in more than 500 license areas. The company promised to offer a nationwide low-cost 5G plan offering 30 GB for $25 per month and a low-cost 5G device costing $125, and it offered to increase the number of 5G towers to 24,000 by mid-2025 and allow small carriers and tribal nations to lease its unused spectrum. EchoStar announced that the FCC granted the 5G buildout framework for the Boost Mobile Network on September 20, 2024.


Radio frequency spectrum chart

The following is a list of known frequencies that Boost Mobile employs or plans to employ in the United States.


Released phones

In June 2010, Boost Mobile launched the
Motorola i1 The Motorola i1 is an Internet-enabled smartphone by Motorola, running the Android operating system designed by Google. It was the first Android smartphone for iDEN-based networks, which use older 2G technology rather than modern CDMA and GSM ne ...
smartphone, Boost's first iDEN-based
push-to-talk Push-to-talk (PTT), also known as press-to-transmit, is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines, including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode. H ...
Android phone, and in April 2011, they announced the Samsung Galaxy Prevail, the company's first CDMA-based Android offering. In July 2012, Boost Mobile released the BlackBerry Curve 9310, and in March 2013, they released the HTC One SV and the ZTE-made Boost Force smartphone, the company's first device using Sprint's 4G LTE network. In June that year, Boost Mobile released the LG Optimus F7, the company's first device with a removable
Universal Integrated Circuit Card A GSM mobile phone file:SIM-DXAI20210313172217.jpg, alt=Black and white image of the contacts area of a SIM card showing the internal construction, X-Ray of a SIM card showing small rectangular semiconductor chip (central small rectangle) and fi ...
(UICC) for LTE network authentication/access, a new form of
Subscriber identity module A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout)A SIM card or SIM (subscriber identity module) is an integrated circuit (IC) intended to securely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and its related key, which are u ...
(SIM card). In December 2014, Boost Mobile released the Lumia 635, its first smartphone using
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
's
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design languag ...
mobile operating system, and in July 2015, they launched the NETGEAR Fuse along with no-contract Wi-Fi Hotspot plans, its first Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot device.


Marketing

The Boost Mobile brand was initially marketed to the teen and young adult demographics, heavily focused on action sports, lifestyle and urban music. Boost Mobile's past American advertising campaigns featured
Los Rakas Los Rakas are a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award–nominated bilingual hip hop group based in Oakland, California, consisting of Panamanian cousins Raka Rich and Raka Dun. Their style consists of a mixture of hip hop influences with reggaeton, regga ...
, Terry Kennedy,
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...
,
Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...
, and The Game, and used the slang slogan "Where you at?" In late 2007, a Boost Mobile commercial with
Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. He is credited, alongside fellow Georgia-based rappers T.I. and Gucci Mane, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music fo ...
,
Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Atlanta, Georgia as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music at the age of nine. He discovered th ...
, and
Mickey Avalon Mickey Avalon (born Yeshe Perl; December 3, 1975) is an American rapper from California. His debut self-titled solo album was released in 2006 on Interscope/Shoot to Kill Records in association with MySpace Records. Frequent topics of Avalo ...
was released. The "Where you at?" slogan referenced the walkie-talkie feature on all Boost Mobile phones and later evolved to highlight a social GPS application that was available on selected Boost Mobile phones. Boost have also used
Indy Car IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...
driver
Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver and model. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win ...
in a commercial. A 2005 episode of
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
's ''
Aqua Teen Hunger Force ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' (also branded with different #Alternative titles, alternative titles for seasons 8–11), is an American adult animated television series created by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro for Cartoon Network's late night progra ...
'' titled Boost Mobile was an early example of
native advertising Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, vide ...
within a regular television series. Boost Mobile has also produced some regional campaigns, including providing live paper shredders at bus stops in Chicago and Boston, where several times an hour sample contracts from competing wireless service providers would be shredded into confetti. On January 20, 2010, Boost Mobile's then-parent company Sprint Nextel managed to secure some of the 1985 Chicago Bears players (including
Jim McMahon James Robert McMahon Jr. (born August 21, 1959) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. McMahon played col ...
, Willie Gault, and Mike Singletary) to re-create the team's famous " Super Bowl Shuffle" rap song and
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
as "The Boost Mobile Shuffle" during the first quarter of the
Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...
. Boost Mobile debuted a television campaign in June 2012 to promote the HTC EVO Design 4G, its first smartphone using Sprint's 4G
WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options. The WiMA ...
network. The ads feature comedian Faizon Love as the "4Genie", a
genie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...
who magically appears where cellphone users seek low-cost 4G. On July 1, 2021, the first day on which
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
student-athletes were allowed to receive compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), Boost announced that it had signed Haley and Hanna Cavinder, twin basketball players at Fresno State with a social media following in the millions, as spokespersons.


Services


Affordable Connectivity Program

Boost Mobile participated in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), providing affordable connectivity and mobile services to eligible households. Through the Affordable Connectivity Program, participants received a discount on Boost Mobile phone or mobile broadband plans. The program collaborated with wireless carriers, like Boost Mobile, to offer payment assistance based on income and provide a one-time device subsidy. The ACP was a federal government program operated by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) until it lost funding in 2024.


References


External links

* {{US mobile phone companies EchoStar Dish Network Sprint Corporation Mobile phone companies of the United States American companies established in 2001 Telecommunications companies established in 2001 Retail companies established in 2001 Mobile virtual network operators Companies based in Englewood, Colorado Companies based in Irvine, California Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles 2001 establishments in California