Consumers are beginning to turn away from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, new data shows

More evidence has emerged that consumers are growing wary of the Big 3—AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon—and are gravitating to non-traditional carriers.

Consumer anger over what has been termed predatory practices is moving beyond social media. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have all raised prices in recent months. As a result, rivals including cable companies that have branched out into telecommunications and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) are gaining customers at a fast clip.

The US cable industry, led by Charter Communications, Comcast, and Altice USA, added 886,000 mobile lines, up from 804,000 a year ago in Q1.

Whereas previously these companies only targeted the lower end of the market, they are now competing at all price points with an increased focus on premium-level plans and device upgrade programs. The services are usually offered in bundles that include home broadband.

Charter added 514,000 lines in Q1, outdoing T-Mobile which gained 495,000 postpaid subscribers, and AT&T, which added 324,000 customers. Verizon lost 289,000 customers, which could be one of the reasons it wants to keep customers locked to its network for longer.

Comcast acquired 323,000 customers in Q1 and Altice secured 49,000 new subscribers. Altogether, the three largest cable companies ended the quarter with 19.05 million mobile lines.

Cox, which has decided to merge with Charter, has approximately 200,000 mobile lines, which is impressive given that the company only started offering mobile services across all its markets in January 2023. The company is believed to have been adding 20,000 to 25,000 phone lines every quarter, per data from research institute MoffettNathanson shared by Light Reading.



Overall, the cable industry accounted for 18 percent of total mobile industry gross additions, which is the total number of subscribers added in a period without accounting for cancellations. While impressive, this performance wasn't enough to outdo T-Mobile (around 30 percent), Verizon (nearly 27 percent), and AT&T (approximately 24 percent).

However, the improvement in gross additions shows that the cable industry is now after the Big 3's lunch. The performance is even more impressive when you look at postpaid phone net adds—the number of customers added after factoring in churns or cancelations. Charter, Comcast, and Altice combined represented around 58 percent of total wireless industry postpaid phone net adds in Q1 2025, an improvement from 33 percent in the previous quarter but down from about 79 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Cable's continued growth stands in sharp contrast to the Big 3's performance, with all three experiencing postpaid deceleration in Q1.

It's easy to make a connection here: some, if not all, of the postpaid pain has been inflicted on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon by cable companies.

They may experience some headwinds going forward though, given the current US administration's tougher stance towards immigration may impact the mobile sector.

Regardless, the US cable industry's strong performance in Q1 is yet another sign that consumers are seeking out alternatives to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.