Mobile phone industry in the United States
The mobile phone industry in the United States is covered in this article. Mobile phones are commonly referred to as smartphones or cell phones.
Wireless service providers[]
National operators[]
There are three major operators in the United States that offer nationwide wireless services - Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile; All three operate networks using the LTE standard for their 4G and also offer 5G services.
- Verizon Wireless
- Verizon Wireless, headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is a subsidiary of Verizon Communications.
- AT&T Mobility
- AT&T Mobility, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, subsidiary of AT&T Inc.
- T-Mobile US
- T-Mobile US, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, is a subsidiary of German telecommunications company T-Mobile International AG (with Deutsche Telekom as its majority stakeholder).
Regional operators[]
- U.S. Cellular
- C Spire Wireless
- Claro Puerto Rico
- Liberty Puerto Rico
Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs)[]
- Boost Mobile
- A subsidiary of Dish Network, Boost Mobile provides prepaid wireless service using T-Mobile US's CDMA and 4G LTE network.
- BLU
- A service brand of BLU Telecommunication Inc. BLU Mobile provides services using AT&T's GSM, HSPA+, and LTE network. Provide global sim in US and Mexico, known for M2M and static IP services.
- Cricket Wireless
- A subsidiary of AT&T Inc., Cricket Wireless provides service using AT&T's GSM, HSPA+, and LTE network.
- H2O Wireless
- A service brand of Locus Telecommunications LLC, H2O Wireless provides service using AT&T's GSM, HSPA+, and LTE network.
- Metro by T-Mobile
- Wireless service of T-Mobile US, Metro currently provides service using GSM, HSPA+, and LTE network.
- Ting Inc.
- Provides service in the United States through a no-contract tiered pricing model using CDMA, 4G LTE, and HSPA+ on T-Mobile US's network.
- TracFone Wireless
- MVNO using Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular. Subsidiary of Mexican telecommunications operator América Móvil, TracFone Wireless provides nationwide prepaid wireless service under the TracFone, NET10 Wireless, Straight Talk, Telcel America, Total Wireless, SafeLink Wireless, SIMPLE Mobile and PagePlus Cellular brands. TracFone provides service using GSM, CDMA, HSPA+, and LTE on one of the top five U.S. networks (dependent on phone programming or SIM card).
Mobile phone industry[]
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The Federal Communications Commission is the main regulator of the mobile phone industry in the United States. Qualcomm is the inventor of and main contributor to cdmaOne and CDMA2000 mobile phone standards.
Mobile phone production[]
U.S. based producers:
- Apple
- BLU Products
- Caterpillar
- Firefly
- Garmin
- Motorola Mobility
International producers:
- Alcatel (Nokia)
- BlackBerry
- Coolpad
- HTC
- Huawei
- Kyocera
- LG
- Microsoft Mobile (Previously part of Nokia)
- NEC Casio (G'zOne)
- Pantech
- Personal Communications Devices (PCD)
- Samsung
- Sharp
- Sony
- ZTE
Mobile phone vs. cell phone[]
While it is "mobile phone" in British English, it is "cell phone" in American English. The term "cell phone", short for "cellular phone" came into the day-to-day American English vocabulary during the 1980s when the mobile phone companies had to distinguish their mobile phone that can be carried from one cell to another, each controlled by a land-based antenna, from the earlier Improved Mobile Telephone Service phones. In Wikipedia, "mobile phone" is more often used because it can be used across various technologies.
See also[]
- Mobile phone
- Mobile Telephone Service
- Telecommunications in the United States
Telephones portal
United States portal
References[]
- Mobile phone industry by country
- Telecommunications in the United States
- Industry in the United States