98% of phones are ready for Wi-Fi DAS data. 88% are ready for voice.
A study of 100 US handsets weighted by sales and survival, 2011 to 2026. Here is what the phones people actually carry into your venue are ready for — and how that compares to what a legacy cellular DAS can still deliver.
The finding
In 2026, 98% of phones in US pockets are ready for data over a Wi-Fi DAS: their operating system can join a Passpoint network, up from 50% in 2015. 88% are ready to carry voice over it too, because their carrier has enabled Wi-Fi Calling on the SKU it sells, up from 0% before 2016. 88% are ready for both; 2% for neither.
How this compares to DAS
A neutral-host legacy cellular DAS built for the 2011 LTE rollout and upgraded at the typical venue pace still serves 99% of phones in 2026, but passes only 81% of the spectrum those phones were built for — down from 94–100% through 2017. Wi-Fi DAS data readiness overtook that spectrum match in 2020; voice readiness overtook it in 2024. This translates to degraded user experience on legacy cellular DAS systems: the "full bars but no service" problem.
Why voice trails data
Data readiness is an operating system capability (iOS since 2013, required in Android since 2020). Voice readiness is a carrier decision, documented per device. Every phone that fails the voice test after 2016 is an unlocked or retail SKU on a carrier that whitelists its own builds — the carrier-sold sibling of the same phone is enabled in every case we found. Phone lifetime is closing the gap on its own: 95% of phones two years old or newer are ready for both data and voice, against 79% of older phones.
Why the DAS curve bends
The plant's spectral reach lags handsets by two to five years at every wave. Passive components stayed 698–2700 MHz until 2018–2020, so 600 MHz and C-band needed new hardware. Full B66 modules shipped from December 2018 through 2024; C-band DAS modules 2021–2024. Half of phones carried B66 by 2019, B71 by 2020, n77 by 2023. A never-upgraded plant passes 18% of their spectrum in 2026; a continuously upgraded one passes 98%.
What this means for the venue conversation
In 2026 the two are complements. A Wi-Fi DAS carries data for 98% of phones and voice for 88%. The legacy cellular DAS carries voice for the other 12% and legacy-band data for everyone. Together they give 99% of phones a voice path and all of them a data path.
The voice gap is a carrier whitelist, not a radio. Unlocked mid-tier phones on AT&T (and formerly Sprint) are the shortfall, and it retires with the phones.
Every out-of-passband spectrum wave since 2015 needed new hardware inside the building. In-passband refarms rode free. The legacy cellular DAS argument is strongest where the venue keeps upgrading.
Passpoint capability is already in 98% of pockets. The venue's remaining work on the data side is enablement — profiles, credentials, OpenRoaming — not hardware.
Method in brief: 100 US-SKU handsets (20 per era; 57 cited best-sellers or plan anchors, 43 archetype fills), each weighted by its estimated share of US smartphone sales in its launch window (Counterpoint, Kantar, NPD and comScore readings; per-model evidence for 50 devices carrying 69% of the weight, brand-share fills for the rest), bands per SKU with FCC-ID confirmation; a three-track DAS capability timeline re-dated from 321 vendor datasheet revisions and FCC grants; device × year × track scoring on a spectrum-match index (3GPP band widths) plus a served/unserved test; Passpoint OS capability (data) and per-carrier Wi-Fi Calling enablement from carrier and OEM device pages (voice, 88 of 100 confirmed); survival-weighted installed base; eight sensitivity scenarios including the unweighted case (voice 79%, no voice crossover). All sources are cited per row in the dataset; 223 logged conflicts, none silently resolved.
