July 2012 UPDATE: With the ever-increasing number of small carriers offering the iPhone, this page is becoming impractical to update. As such, it will no longer be updated. If you're interested in finding out what regional carriers offer the iPhone--as well as what national, and pre-paid, carriers do--check out A List of & Info About Every U.S. iPhone Carrier.
While AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon are the major phone companies that offer the iPhone in the U.S., they're not the only ones. If you live in a number of regions throughout the country, you may have the option to get an iPhone 4 or 4S from your regional phone company. While not all parts of the country have regional carriers that offer the iPhone, the list is growing all the time.
These regional companies don't have all the features and coverage that their national competitors do, but many have close ties to the community, special programs for different populations in their areas, and--maybe most importantly--advantageous pricing.
Lower Phone Prices
All the regional carriers listed below offer the iPhone at lower prices than AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. While both the big companies and the regional carriers require a two-year contract to get the best prices, the smaller companies price their iPhones at about $50 less.
The big three charge $99 for the iPhone 4, and $199, $299, or $399 (depending on the model) for the iPhone 4S. The regional carriers charge $50 for the iPhone 4, and $149, $249, or $349 for the iPhone 4S.
If the promise of lower prices, or just service in your area if the big companies don't offer it, has piqued your interest, read on to discover what regional carriers offer the iPhone and what their monthly rate plans cost. (In most cases, an empty cell in the chart means that the company doesn't have an offering that matches. In a few cases, I haven't been able to confirm whether the company offers something in that area; when I do, I'll update the chart as needed.)
iPhone Pricing: Regional Carriers
| Alaska Commun- ications |
Appalachian Wireless | Cellcom | C Spire | GCI | Matanuska Telephone Association | nTelos | |
| States | AK | KY, VA | WI | MS, TN, AL | AK | AK | KY, MD, NC, OH, PA, VA, WV |
| Nationwide Minutes | |||||||
| 450 | $69.98 | $50.00 (500 min) |
$39.99 (400 min) |
||||
| 900 | $89.98 (800 min) or $94.98 (1200 min) |
$60.00 (1000 min) |
$79.98 (1200 min) |
$59.99 | |||
| Unlimited | $90 or $101 | $99.99 | $69.95 | $70.00 | $89.98 | $69.99 | $99.99 |
| Data | |||||||
| 2 GB | $90 (includes phone) |
$30.00 | $29.99 | ||||
| 3 GB | included | ||||||
| 5 GB | $101 (includes phone) |
included | $50.00 | $45.99 | |||
| Unlimited | included | included | |||||
| Tethering/ Personal Hotspot |
$19.99 | $20.00 | $19.99 | $10.00 | $30.00 | $15.00 | |
| Text Messaging | |||||||
| 250/month | $3.95 (100 msgs) |
||||||
| 500/month | $5.95 (300 msgs) |
||||||
| 1,500/month | |||||||
| Unlimited | included in $101 plan |
included in $99 plan |
$9.95 | included | included | $6.99 | included |
| Other Features | |||||||
| Push-to-Talk | $4.99 | ||||||
| Rollover Minutes | no | ||||||
| Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile on Same Network | included in above plans |
||||||
| Price for Unlimited + 200/250 Texts + 3 GB+ Data (before taxes and fees) |
$101 | $99.99 | $123.90 | $70.00 | $89.98 | $122.97 | $99.99 |
