Wireless Service Keeps Getting Cheaper: Americans Are Getting More for Less

By Blake Reed

There’s some welcome relief for American pocketbooks: wireless service continues to buck the trend of rising costs, delivering dramatically better value year after year. Along with broadband, prices for wireless phone service continue to decline thanks to robust competition, market-driven spectrum policy, and a light-touch regulatory attitude.

The latest 2026 CTIA Wireless Affordability Tracker shows that real prices for wireless plans are continuing their steady decline, while consumers enjoy faster speeds and significantly more data.

Unlimited wireless plans saw real, inflation-adjusted prices fall 10.7% in the past year alone, bringing the five-year decline to 34.9%. Prepaid plans, popular with budget-conscious consumers, dropped 2.6% last year and an impressive 51.7% over five years. Overall, government figures confirm wireless costs have declined 6.6% in real terms in just the last year and more than 41% over the past decade.

Consumers are receiving more for their money. Wireless download speeds jumped 51% in the past year, while data usage surged over 32%. The real price per gigabyte of mobile data plummeted more than 21% last year and 40% in just two years. Since 2015, the cost per gigabyte has crashed by more than 92%.

Far from the result of government intervention, these metrics represent the free market doing what it does best. Fierce competition between carriers, coupled with hundreds of billions in private investment, is pushing companies to constantly improve networks and offer better deals to attract and retain customers. The wireless industry proves that when innovation and competition are allowed to thrive, consumers win big.

The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint allowed the latter to scale up and compete as the nation’s third-largest carrier. Congress finally reauthorizing spectrum auctions in the Working Families Tax Cut (originally known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act) both engenders competition between carriers and allocates the resources for expanded coverage and improved service through economically rational means. Its business expensing, R&D, and depreciation provisions encourage economy-wide investment. The FCC’s Delete, Delete, Delete proceedings have eliminated thousands of burdensome, unnecessary, and obsolete rules to make the wireless market more efficient.

The end result is wireless now accounts for just 1.7% of average household spending — one of the smallest shares of any major expense. In an era of persistent inflation in housing, food, and energy, wireless stands out as a genuine bright spot that’s becoming more affordable over time.

Policymakers should pay close attention to this success story. Instead of piling on new regulations and taxes that will slow investment and raise costs, Washington must focus on preserving the competitive environment that has consistently delivered faster, more reliable wireless service at lower real prices. They could start with USF reforms that reduce the “mandatory fee” that accounts for close to one-third of phone bills.

The wireless market is living proof that free enterprise, not government mandates, is the best path to affordable, high-quality technology for American families.

To read the full 2026 CTIA Wireless Affordability Tracker, click here.