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U.S. Cellular to Launch LTE Network Next Month
Launch Devices: Galaxy S Aviator and GalaxyTab 10.1
U.S. Cellular today announced that the company will be launching their LTE network next month. The launch, originally predicted for late last year, will initially cover 25% of the company's current footprint when it deploys in March. Initial coverage will hit "select cities" in in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma, in addition to the more-specific markets of Milwaukee, Madison and Racine, Wis.; Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, Iowa; Portland and Bangor, Maine; and Greenville, North Carolina. There's no word on pricing yet, but the company says that the Samsung GalaxyTab 10.1 tablet and Galaxy S Aviator 4G smartphone will be the company's first two LTE devices.
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chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

1 edit

chgo_man99

Member

Hahaha

Whats use of it when u can only use it in small town like Cumming, IA but not in Chicago when you go there for visit.

Iowa will be alwayst the last technological backwater for IT! Your only great choice for tv? Satellite! For Internet? Mediacrap with nightly outages and oversubscribed nodes, mediocre Internet and tv services.

Still no 4g in Dubuque (dupuke), pathetic local business where independent proud local sandwich shops are even worse than subway or jimmy johns!

Can't wait when I go back to northeast Illinois and get the hell out from tech backwater! 4g LTE in Iowa? Very funny! They can't even maintain street lights in sync!
Bob61571
join:2008-08-08
Washington, IL

Bob61571

Member

Re: Hahaha

blguy07....

No 4G LTE (at least yet, by US Cellular) in Chicago, NE Illinois, or anywhere in Illinois. But, they are adding it in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin.

Probably want to roll it out in smaller areas first, either because of cost, or to get bugs ironed out in smaller population areas (so that any bad PR doesn't get noticed).

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK

Premium Member

US Cellular is a well liked company here

They have good family plans and rate well in customer service.

The knock on them has been they have less devices/choices and a slower network.

Looks like they are fixing that. Definitely give AT&T a run for their money, which is a good thing.

S_engineer
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

S_engineer

Premium Member

Re: US Cellular is a well liked company here

I've had US Cell for years..great customer service (imagine that), never calls dropped (i can use my phone in a basement behind 1' concrete wall), and lower bills. Thier "3G" sucks...though. My question is, when they finally build a real network, will they keep lower rates, or will they pretend to be big kids on the block and collude in pricing with the Deathstar and others?

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

Re: US Cellular is a well liked company here

I hope they stay how they are now, with good plans.

We need companies like US Cellular or else all we're going to have is AT&T and Verizon (eventually).
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99 to S_engineer

Member

to S_engineer
Question is, will their LTE network be comparable to MetroPCS or more to at&t/verizon? Will it be as good or better than at&t or t-mobile's 3g?
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

Re: US Cellular is a well liked company here

said by chgo_man99:

Question is, will their LTE network be comparable to MetroPCS or more to at&t/verizon? Will it be as good or better than at&t or t-mobile's 3g?

MetroPCS's LTE is actually pretty good... it's still significantly faster than 3G.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

USCeullar

Are they CDMA or GSM?

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

Re: USCeullar

CDMA last I heard.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec to 25139889

Premium Member

to 25139889
said by 25139889:

Are they CDMA or GSM?

They are CDMA, a roaming partner of Sprint and Verizon.

Pretty decent service up here, although Maine is one of their heavily invested markets. Seems like there is US Cellular stores everywhere. Not to mention ads and signs. Looking at their coverage maps for LTE, they have Maine fairly well covered which is impressive.

I helped my girlfriend get their service and there phone selection was really lacking for power users, but she really didnt need much. Their plans have you roam on Verizon EVDO outside of their native coverage areas across the country. International roaming sucks. Overall not bad.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: USCeullar

would be a great partner for Sprint then if their CDMA and clearly have the $$$ to build out a new network.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99 to swintec

Member

to swintec
They need to get rid off regional Maine plan. What $5 makes a difference, when long distance rate is insane $1 per minute?

Instead lower 450 min nationwide plan or bump up minutes.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: USCeullar

said by chgo_man99:

They need to get rid off regional Maine plan. What $5 makes a difference, when long distance rate is insane $1 per minute?

mainers are finicky people. When I go into "Think like a true mainer" mentality, the plan makes sense. Think: entire families live in the same town / area.For "normal" people, I agree though the plan makes little sense and now I wonder how exactly it came about and why not other state has it.

jester121
Premium Member
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

jester121

Premium Member

Boo

White Sox suck.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os

Member

US Cellular

US Cellular's pricing now on their 3G network (which I've never seen hit more than 1 Mbps on Speedtest here locally), and never more than 2.5-3 Mbps in Morgantown isn't that much different than the cabal.

$30 for 5GB is good, but the overage fees are now .25 a MB!

I've always figured US Cellular is just going to end up absorbed by Verizon, but I'm glad they haven't been. Their service is good here overall, and it does cost a lot less than AT&T. I'd recommend US Cellular if you're in a market with them. And they do have an improving selection of Android phones.

I think with the timing here, by the time I get my next phone, I'll be ready for when LTE launches here in Western MD.

JimThePCGuy
Formerly known as schja01.
MVM
join:2000-04-27
Morton Grove, IL

JimThePCGuy

MVM

Re: US Cellular

I have Sprint and I meander around northern IL. When I don't have native Sprint coverage I roam on USC and they have excellent coverage in their service area. I swear I get 3G data while roaming on USC but haven't been able to 100% confirm that.
Friends of ours in NW IL had Verizon and dropped calls all the time. I don't think they dropped a call since switching to USC 3 years ago. If/when they get the iPhone I'll consider them when my contract(s) with Sprint are up.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: US Cellular

said by JimThePCGuy:

If/when they get the iPhone I'll consider them when my contract(s) with Sprint are up.

They made it pretty clear they were not interested in the iPhone last year. Maybe with a decent LTE network Apple will approach them more aggressively.

jhacker
join:2001-12-11
Peoria, IL

jhacker to JimThePCGuy

Member

to JimThePCGuy
said by JimThePCGuy:

If/when they get the iPhone I'll consider them when my contract(s) with Sprint are up.

Why? So they can be like Sprint? Sprint is nickel and dime-ing their customers to death just so they can say they carry the iPhone. They are going into a huge amount of debt, and they can't even afford to upgrade their network.

I just switched over to US Cellular from Sprint, today as a matter of fact. At least US Cellular's 3G works, in this market at least. With Sprint's 3G, it's like going back 10 years and being on dial-up. Half the time, it isn't even 1X speed!!
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

Re: US Cellular

Ya know... Sprint's gonna reap the profits from the iPhone deal in the coming months. They went into debt subsidizing the phone, but profit from the ensuring contract.