Consumers already making AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon pay for price hikes

These companies added 876,000 lines in total and now have 18.16 million customers.

In contrast, T-Mobile made up 31.1 percent of the net additions, Verizon accounted for 30.1 percent of them, and AT&T was responsible for a 22.8 percent net increase.

Since Comcast and Charter are Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) that use Verizon's network, the company indirectly benefited a little from their success, though it's worth pointing out that most of their wireless traffic is rerouted to Wi-Fi. T-Mobile is Altice USA's MVNO partner, but its gains were likely minimal.

The report does not include the customers added by Cox Communications since the company doesn't publicly report this data. If they were included, the cable industry's net adds would have been much higher compared to the previous year tally of 890,000.

These are not the only US cable operators who are eating the Big Three's lunch. Small and midsized companies such as WideOpenWest, Mediacom, Midco, Breezeline, TVS Cable, and Astound Broadband also offer mobile services now.

The cable companies might prove to be bigger threats than other problems that wireless carriers are dealing with, such as falling upgrade rates. Comcast's new free wireless line deal for broadband customers also has the potential to impact the subscriber growth for the Big Three.

Overall though, the US mobile industry is in good shape and continues to grow, even though the market is saturated. This has been chalked up to the use of multiple phones by people for personal and business use. People in the gig economy, such as cab drivers who use different phones for different apps, are also said to be contributing to growth.

Tighter immigration rules could slow down subscriber growth this year, according to Moffett.

With price hikes from wireless companies making customers angry, the increasing competition in the market is a good sign. If consumers are eschewing established companies for cable operators,  it might mean they are fed up of predatory tactics and are willing to take a chance on MVNOs.

If consumers are eschewing established companies for cable operators, it might mean they are fed up with wireless companies and are willing to take a chance on businesses that don't have their own cellular infrastructure.