There are many mobile networks available in the world for telecommunications. Today all of them are providing various features and facilities to their subscribers or customers with various plans to attract them. In the USA there are many mobile communications providing various facilities to the customers. The three top mobile network service providers available in USA, viz., AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and Metro PCS or T-Mobile.
You will come across some abbreviations in this article like AT&T full form is American Telephone & Telegraph Company, NEFT Full Form is National Electronics Fund Transfer, and many more. I will try to provide their full forms as well in the article.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) has almost given the list of about 30 wireless service providers in the US. The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) has about 100 list of wireless service providers. Other than these providers there are also about 50+ virtual network operators who use the top four networks of the US to provide the services.
Largest Wireless Providers In US
According to the subscribers count there are three wireless telecommunications service providers all over the US and are the top three service providers. They are as follows with the subscribers count
- AT&T Mobility: 96.2 Million
- Verizon Wireless: 118.7 Million
- Metro PCS or T-Mobile: 86.0 Million
Each of the active SIM recorded is considered as the customer or the subscriber. There are some wholesale customers also, from the Machine to Machine networks and the mobile virtual network operators. These are managed by the wholesale partners and operates on the host network. Verizon does not provide services to wholesale customers whereas AT&T has wholesale customers.
Technologies Used For Mobile Network Services
The top four wireless service providers have the standard service of 4G LTE. These services have positioned the entire coverage. But the LTE brands which are used by these service providers are incompatible. The top four wireless service providers maintain the legacy of the networks. AT&T and the T-Mobile use the GSM and the 3G UMTS, most of them have converted to the 4G HSPA+ services. While the other two service providers Verizon and Sprint (which is the subsidiary of T-Mobile) and the U.S. Cellular uses the CDMA.
It has been also heard that Verizon is planning to shut down the non-LTE networks. Verizon’s 1X and EV-DO are currently two networks in the service and will be discontinued by 31st December 2020. After this Verizon will not allow the mobile phones which don’t have VoLTE to be active.
By the end of the year 2016, almost all the operators have adopted the LTE services. These top four wireless service providers in the US i.e. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile manage their sales of the SIM card in the physical stores as well online also. The selection of the mobile devices with Verizon and Sprint is limited. Almost all the carriers have activated the VoLTE services on their networks.
Conclusion: In this article I have given you information about the top four wireless service providers in the US. There are many other wireless service providers in the country with various features and facilities.
