[7] It operates national 5G and 4G LTE networks covering about 99 percent of the U.S. population,[8] which in the first half of 2024 won top honors in five out of eight categories of the RootMetrics RootScore Reports, along with the most awards in both state and metro testing.

[6] Regulators with the Federal Communications Commission approved the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger on June 16, 2000,[17] creating the largest wireless company in the United States.

[24][25] The deal was finalized on January 9, 2009, again making Verizon Wireless the country's largest cellphone network.

[26] Verizon's acquisitions continued in the 2010s, including the purchases of some Plateau Wireless markets in 2012[27] and Golden State Cellular's operator in 2014.

[7] In late 2014, it became known that Verizon Wireless uses deep packet inspection for server-side insertion of a customer-unique ID field ("X-UIDH") into all unencrypted HTTP headers.

The mechanism has been referred to as a "supercookie" or "perma-cookie", although it is technically not a cookie in that it does not store information on the customers device and is transparent to the user.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has called on Verizon to terminate the program, calling it a "profound violation of trust", expressing concern over abuse by third parties, and questioning the legality of Verizon modifying their users' outgoing data without offering them the possibility of a full opt-out.

[36] In August 2016, Verizon hired Ronan Dunne, the former head of British provider O2, as the new president of its wireless business.

[37] In September 2016, Comcast confirmed that it planned to launch a mobile service, using Verizon's network as an MVNO, in mid-2017.

[38][39] In February 2017, in the wake of competition from Sprint and T-Mobile, and initiatives to expand the capacity and improve the quality of its network by using macrocells and supporting carrier aggregation, Verizon announced that it would bring back an "unlimited" data plan (subject to throttling in heavy network areas after 22 GB of usage).

[40] In March 2017, Verizon announced that all their Android phones will have AppFlash, to help users find content and services across different apps.

[45] In August 2018, the fire department of Santa Clara County, California, filed evidence in a lawsuit seeking the reinstatement of net neutrality policies, which accused Verizon of throttling an "unlimited" wireless data plan associated with a vehicle that was being used to coordinate responses to the Mendocino Complex Fire.

The department reported that a Verizon Wireless customer service representative insisted that they must upgrade to a higher-cost data plan in order to restore their internet speed.

In a statement, Verizon acknowledged that they did not properly explain the terms of the contract, and that the representative did not adhere to a company policy of removing these restrictions during emergency situations.

Verizon began its initial tests for the 4G LTE network in 2008[12] in order to move from older-generation mobile communications technologies to the emerging global standard.

[61] In 2012, the service provider bought spectrum from the country's biggest cable companies, including Comcast, and Spectrum (Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks at the time) to improve its data network across the U.S.[62] The new capacity allowed Verizon to launch what it calls XLTE (LTE on Band 4) in 2013, providing more capacity in congested and well-populated markets.

[12] In late August 2016, Verizon officially announced that it had rolled out LTE Advanced services in 461 markets.

[70][71] In October 2020, during a virtual event unveiling the iPhone 12, Verizon announced that it had begun to widely deploy 5G service on sub-6 GHz spectrum, branded as "Nationwide 5G".

This contract ended after the 2017 NFL season;[89][90][91][92] Verizon agreed to a new five-year, non-exclusive digital rights agreement, which removes the device class exclusivity, and focuses more upon distributing its streams and other enhanced digital content via its portfolio of internet media brands, rather than being exclusive to Verizon Wireless subscribers.

[95][96][97] Verizon Cloud, which allows photos, videos, contacts, messages and call logs to be synchronized online, was released in April 2013 initially for Android phones,[98] followed the next month by a launch for iOS.

[104][105] Verizon also offers the GizmoPal, a wristband-worn phone for children that is restricted to only placing or receiving calls from one of two designated caregivers, and has GPS tracking.

[110][111] Verizon Wireless offers mobile phone, home telephone, and Internet services through a variety of devices.

The program extends the footprint of 4G LTE coverage for both the rural carrier and Verizon, as customers can take advantage of both networks.