It seems like all we hear about of late is economic turmoil and falling business profits. Apparently there is some truth behind the ideal that Americans will go without food before going without their cell phone as Verizon announced today that earnings rose 31 percent in the third quarter.

The telecom company credits its acquisition of Alltel as beneficial as it made Verizon the largest U.S. carrier, surpassing AT&T.

verizon's third-quarter profit raised to $1.67 billion (59 cents a share) from $1.27 billion, or 44 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Verizon added 1.5 million new subscribers in third quarter alone. This in addition to some 600,000 subscribers it gained through the acquisition of Rural Cellular and ended the quarter with a whopping 70.8 million customers.