Multiple reasons.<p>(And they pretty much boil down to: &quot;why put hundreds&#x2F;thousands of expensive cell towers in the sparsely populated cornfields and plains that cover the country&quot;)\<p>1) The USA is geographically <i>massive</i>. Infrastructure between isolated &quot;neighbouring&quot; cities can be hundreds of kilometers. Cell towers, needless to say, are more expensive when attempting to cover a larger geographical area.<p>2) The population density varies dramatically<p>3) There are many rural pockets of thinly-distributed populaces, which can make the ROI lower in aforementioned large coverage areas<p>4) There are many mountainous, isolated communities, whose topography negatively affects coverage<p>5) Unlike Finland, where coastal&#x2F;southern communities contain the vast majority of the populace, and nobody living up north,[1] the US Midwest contains a large populace, thinly spread over an enormous area... [2]<p>Copper landlines are reliable and simple to fix.<p>Cellphone towers are expensive, have a limited range, are highly affected by topography, and thus only make sense in areas above a certain threshold of population densities. And even still, living in a <i>neighbouring community</i> of a metropolitan area, you may be out of range of the metro&#x27;s cell towers, and the ROI for your smaller community may not justify the expense!<p>1 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Demographics_of_Finland#&#x2F;media&#x2F;File:Population_map_of_Finland.svg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Demographics_of_Finland#&#x2F;media...</a><p>2 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;File:Map_of_states_showing_population_density_in_2013.svg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;File:Map_of_states_showing_pop...</a><p>Size comparison: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;overlapmaps.com&#x2F;index.php" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;overlapmaps.com&#x2F;index.php</a>, or <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ifitweremyhome.com&#x2F;compare&#x2F;US&#x2F;FI" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ifitweremyhome.com&#x2F;compare&#x2F;US&#x2F;FI</a>