[sturmen]

Are you positing it could be "we added (X*Y) number of subscribers this quarter, and for every Y subscribers we need to add 1 tower, but we only added (less than X) towers"? Reportedly, Verizon has some of the slowest[1] subscriber growth among the smartphone carriers, so that doesn't pass the smell test unless Verizon simply decided that hoarding money was higher priority than providing the good customer experience that drives growth.

For months (years?) there have been swirlings that Verizon can't handle "unlimited", accusations they've denied[2], OpenSignal's conclusion seems the most likely.

[1] https://www.cnet.com/news/even-sprint-topped-at-t-verizon-in... [2] http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/verizon-execs-dismiss...

[willidiots]

I'd posit it's an increase in per-sub utilization vs total sub count. Users aren't motivated to limit their LTE usage with these plans, and in some cases eschew Wi-Fi entirely.