# Cell phone sub-carriers (e.g. Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile. etc) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572 "2019-09-20T17:57:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/1 "2019-09-20T17:57:46Z")
IIRC, there are really only four player in the cell transmission business(Verizon, A. T. & T., T-Mobile, Sprint), but there are a plethora of sub carriers that really use one (or more) of the four carriers to hold their calls. Some, like Boost, are owned by the company that handles their calls. Consumer Cellular goes even further and sells A. T. & T. wireless services wholesale to other sub-carriers. Do these sub-carriers get the same service from their provider as the provider gives to their own customers? When traffic is heavy, does Verizon give its own customers priority? If everyone gets the same service, is there a logical reason I should choose the primary carrier? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/2 "2019-09-20T18:18:34Z")
According to this article, features and prioritization may be a consideration for heavy/power users: [8 important considerations when switching to an MVNO | Android Central](https://www.androidcentral.com/8-important-considerations-when-switching-mvno) > [@](#): > > When things get extreme, MVNO customers can experience even slower service because direct customers are given priority. I use MVNO carriers almost exclusively because I love the value they offer. But I do get to see prioritization in action every year on The Mall in Washington, D.C. during the annual July Fourth celebration. There are three-quarters of a million people jammed into a four block area, and we’re all on our phones. Folks who pay AT&T (for example) directly for service have very poor service. People like me using an MVNO have practically no service. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/3 "2019-09-20T18:23:32Z")
The technical term for these companies is Mobile Virtual Network Operator. > **[Mobile virtual network operator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator)** > > A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently. An MVNO may use its own customer service, billing support systems, marketing, and sales personnel, or it could employ the services o MV... I’ve been using SimpleMobile, an MVNO for T-Mobile for several years and I have no complaints. Their customer service is not great, but I have no reason to think that it’s any better with the main carriers. I’ve never experienced any problems that make me think I’m getting substandard service. I pay $20 / month. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/4 "2019-09-20T20:53:13Z")
My sister and brother-in-law lived midway between Cleveland and Columbus. To save money he switched them from ATT to Cricket because they were on the same towers. Immediately they started having trouble with dropped calls, texts never coming through, etc., they had never had with ATT. OTOH my other sister is on Consumer Cellular and she’s perfectly happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/5 "2019-09-20T22:53:44Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > My sister and brother-in-law lived midway between Cleveland and Columbus. To save money he switched them from ATT to Cricket because they were on the same towers. Immediately they started having trouble with dropped calls, texts never coming through, etc., they had never had with ATT. > > OTOH my other sister is on Consumer Cellular and she’s perfectly happy with it. I’m not familiar with prioritisation at the towers, as described above for the parade, but sub-carriers in the US have always used cost-optimisation and been subject to prioritisation for their carrier services. And carrier service has always been a bottleneck – that’s why using low-priority and low-bandwidth and poor-path-quality services helps sub-carriers be cheaper. If your sub-carrier is saving money on cheap carrier services, the quality of service depends entirely on where you’re calling from where, because the carrier bottlenecks and alternate services care evenly distributed across the USA. There will be limited or expensive capacity on one route, but cheap unused capacity going somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/6 "2019-09-21T01:22:35Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > IIRC, there are really only four player in the cell transmission business(Verizon, A. T. & T., T-Mobile, Sprint), but there are a plethora of sub carriers that really use one (or more) of the four carriers to hold their calls. No. While there are four major players there are lots of others in the cell transmission business. U.S. Cellular has 5 million customers but is concentrated in a few states. > **[United States Cellular Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Cellular)** > > United States Cellular Corporation (doing business as UScellular and formerly known as U.S. Cellular) is an American mobile network operator. It is a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (which owns an 84% stake). The company was formed in 1983 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. UScellular is the fifth-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 4,656,000 subscribers in 426 markets in 21 states as of the 2nd quarter of 2023. The organization was previously known as Uni... Cellular South (C-Spire) has 1.2 million customers and is in a few Southern states: > **[C Spire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Spire)** > > C Spire, formerly known as Cellular South, Inc., is a privately owned telecommunications company headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi. The company consists of three business divisions – C Spire Wireless, C Spire Home Fiber, and C Spire Business. > C Spire Wireless operates more than 1,200 cell sites with 9,000 route miles of buried fiber optic cable. C Spire owns and has access to low, mid and high-band wireless spectrum in its primary service areas. The unit offers 4G LTE mobile services and ... I think there are a couple hundred or so others, almost all with well under 100,000 customers. But yes the MVNOs get lower priority–but if you live in a rural area that is unlikely to matter. The major carriers can also be competitive if you want a family plan. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/7 "2021-12-09T23:31:32Z")
A post was merged into an existing topic: [Experiences with cell phone sub-carriers](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-cell-phone-sub-carriers/955807/2) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-sub-carriers-e-g-cricket-wireless-boost-mobile-etc/840572/8 "2021-12-09T23:30:50Z")
A post was split to a new topic: [Experiences with cell phone sub-carriers](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-cell-phone-sub-carriers/955807)