What Is 5G Standalone, and Which US Carriers Have It?

5G Standalone, usually written 5G SA, is 5G that runs on its own from end to end: a 5G radio signal connected to a 5G core network. Most 5G phones in the US spent their first years on the other kind, non-standalone 5G, where the phone uses a 5G signal for data but still leans on the older 4G LTE network to set up and manage the connection.

The 5G icon on your phone looks the same either way, which is why the question keeps coming up. This guide explains what changes with standalone, what does not, and what each of the three national carriers has actually said about it. Where a carrier has not said something plainly, the table below says not confirmed instead of guessing.

Standalone and non-standalone, in plain terms

Every cell network has two halves. The radio network is the towers and antennas your phone talks to. The core is the part behind them that knows who you are, sets up calls and data sessions, and hands you from one tower to the next.

When 5G first launched, carriers put 5G radios on their towers but kept the 4G core. That is non-standalone 5G. Your phone holds a 4G LTE connection as an anchor and adds a 5G channel on top for data.

Standalone removes the anchor. The phone connects to a 5G radio and a 5G core, with no LTE connection required. Voice calls can then run over 5G too, which the industry calls Voice over New Radio, or VoNR.

What standalone changes for you

Less than the name suggests, at least at first. Standalone is plumbing. It does not add a tower, and it does not by itself extend where a carrier's signal reaches.

What it can change: a phone on standalone can stay on 5G in places where the carrier's 5G signal reaches but its LTE anchor signal is weak, since it no longer needs both. Connections can be set up with less delay, because one network is involved instead of two. And a carrier can combine several 5G channels for one phone, which it will call carrier aggregation, without an LTE channel in the mix.

It also opens up features that need a 5G core. Network slicing lets a carrier set aside a lane of the network for one group of users, such as first responders or a business. Low-power 5G for watches and other small devices, called RedCap, runs on a standalone core as well.

What it does not promise is a faster phone. Speed still depends on the signal you have, the frequency band it is on, and how many other people are using the same cell.

Which US carriers have 5G Standalone

Here is what each national carrier has said in public, and where the gaps are. The wording matters: a network that is deployed nationwide is not the same thing as every customer's phone using it everywhere.

As of April 2025, T-Mobile described its network as built on a standalone architecture. It first announced a nationwide standalone 5G network in 2020. What it does not publish is how much of the time a given phone or plan is on standalone in a given place.

As of October 2025, AT&T said its standalone network was deployed nationwide and that it was moving customers onto it in select areas, with availability growing as phones and accounts are set up for it. That statement is a year old now. Which areas, phones and plans are on standalone today is not confirmed.

As of April 2026, Verizon said the dedicated network slice it sells to public safety agencies works on compatible phones, tablets and laptops wherever it offers 5G Ultra Wideband. Slicing is a standalone feature, so the standalone core is in use. Where ordinary phone customers are on standalone is not confirmed: we could not find Verizon saying so plainly.

Each of those is a statement made on the date given, not a reading of the network today. Carriers change this quickly, so check the carrier's own news page for anything newer.

Each carrier's own published wording, with the month it was said, checked in October 2026. Not confirmed means we could not find the carrier saying it plainly. It does not mean the answer is no.

Prepaid brands and MVNOs

Smaller brands such as US Mobile, Mint Mobile, Visible, Cricket and Metro do not run their own towers. Each one runs on one or more of the three national networks.

Whether a customer of one of these brands gets standalone depends on three things at once: whether the host network has standalone where you are, whether the host lets that brand's customers use it, and whether the brand has switched it on for your plan and your phone. The brands rarely publish this, and it can change without an announcement.

So for every prepaid brand and MVNO, the status here is not confirmed. If it matters to you, ask the brand's support team directly, and name your exact phone model and plan when you ask. A general answer about the host network is not an answer about your line.

How to tell if your phone is on standalone

There is no reliable sign in the status bar. Both kinds of 5G normally show the same icon.

On an iPhone, open Settings, tap Cellular, then Cellular Data Options, then Voice & Data. With two lines, tap Cellular and choose the number first. Apple says extra settings such as 5G Standalone may appear there, depending on your market and carrier. If the switch is missing, your carrier or plan has not enabled standalone for that phone.

On Android there is no single setting, and the menus differ by maker. A Pixel's preferred network type setting offers choices like 5G and LTE and does not say which kind of 5G you are on. Your phone also has to support standalone on the bands your carrier uses for it, which some older 5G phones do not.

Should it change which carrier you pick?

For most people, not yet. Standalone is not something you can see on a coverage map, and no carrier publishes a map of where its standalone service is. What you can compare is the coverage each carrier reports: where it says a phone gets 4G LTE or 5G at all.

Start there. Our state and city pages show the share of each area where AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon report service, outdoors and in a moving car, and they name a leader only where one carrier is clearly ahead. Those figures are reported coverage, not measured signal, and they stop at the city or county level, so for one address follow the steps in our address guide.

Then treat standalone as a tie-breaker, if at all. A carrier with strong reported coverage where you live and no standalone will serve you better than one with standalone and a weak signal.