How Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and more stacked up in Q3 2018: The top 7 carriers

The third-quarter earnings season is now closed, so it's time to see how the nation's top wireless carriers stacked up against each other in terms of key metrics.

In this report, you will find a ranking of the top 7 U.S. wireless carriers in the third quarter of 2018 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. You'll also find major metrics such as churn.

This list does not include resellers or MVNOs such as TracFone.

So what are you waiting for? Dig in!

Top U.S. Wireless Carrier Metrics Q3 2018 (ranking by subscribers, retail + wholesale)
  Carrier Subscribers (millions) Net Additions (millions) Postpaid Smartphone Net Additions (mil) Blended Churn (Avg Monthly)
1 Verizon 153.971 1.319 0.510 1.22%
2 AT&T 150.252 3.363 0.171 1.70%
3 T-Mobile 77.249 1.630 0.909 2.19%
4 Sprint 53.506 -0.028 0.035 2.43%
5 U.S. Cellular 5.050 -0.001 0.029 1.69%
6 Shentel 1.041 0.008 0.008 2.52%
7 C Spire* n/a      

Subscribers include retail and wholesale connections of both traditional and new connected device categories (e.g. M2M). Verizon Wireless subscribers include Strategy Analytics' estimates for wholesale and connected device volumes. Sprint subscribers and net additions exclude affiliate subscribers, but include wholesale.

Blended Retail ARPU is derived from reported postpaid and prepaid retail/branded ARPU, unless reported separately by carrier.

T-Mobile postpaid smartphone net additions, blended churn and blended ARPU are estimated or derived by Strategy Analytics.

*C-Spire is a private company and does not reveal its metrics, but it is estimated to have c. 1.0 million subscribers.

Source: Strategy Analytics, based on carrier reports.