Well you'll need to talk to your monopolistic carriers then. US mobile innovation is dead for the foreseeable future due to them, all new innovation is happening in China and other SE Asian markets.
You just need to be a good consumer and buy that iPhone that Verizon orders you to have with their blessing.
As of 2025 both AT&T and Verizon (plus, as a downstream their MVNOs) have a whitelist of allowed phone models and block connection of other phones even if they're compatible with the network.
See https://www.att.com/scmsassets/support/wireless/devices-work...
To be whitelisted, the phones need to go through onerous testing process that goes way beyond just checking for network compatibility.
I know there are phones that work on ATT that are not on that list.
Regardless, my point is that the situation has vastly changed over the past 20 years. It wasn't that long ago that you could walk into carrier's store in the US and literally every phone that was allowed on the network was on the shelf.
There were no activation for GSM phones. You insert a whitelisted SIM and the phone would just register(login) to the network. The network doesn't care. Phone might care, but it's processed instantly on the modem. It was Apple that added online "activation" gimmick to it.
"CDMA" networks built on proprietary Qualcomm cdma2000 standards used its equivalent of eSIM, and that was why it required special trusted phones for OTA programming. It was also used by Verizon which IIUC had better coverage than others so lots of people would have had memories of having to go through something akin to Apple activation.
What you are describing is much more accurate of the US cell carriers before the iPhone. I remember paying $20/mo (to the carrier) for a terrible mail application on a feature phone. The iPhone's AT&T deal saved us from that situation.
What are some of the innovations you're referring to?
Huh? You think that the VoLTE requirement is something unique to the US? What new innovations are you referring to by the way?
Carriers in the US restricted the phones people used in the 00s and early 10s, back when there were short model whitelists, CDMA networks, and radios with only a few bands… but not so much today. Global market GSM phones activate pretty much on any US carrier just fine today.
2/3g deprecation and VoLTE is precisely because US carriers are pushing forward with new tech.