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Verizon is one of two national carriers to use CDMA technology; the other national CDMA carrier is Sprint PCS. Another CDMA carrier which is not considered national, but has a large presence in many areas, especially the rural South, is ALLTEL. Three national carriers—AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, and T-Mobile USA—use a North American version of the global GSM standard. The final national carrier, Nextel, uses its own technology known as iDEN, which is derived from TDMA technology.
Verizon Wireless offers voice service as well as 3G (CDMA2000 1xRTT; approx. 144kbps) data services. Verizon Wireless is currently rolling out faster (CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; approx. 2.4mbps) data services.