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U.S. Cellular to Offer LTE in 133 Markets by Year's End
US Cellular previously stated that 87% of their customers will have LTE by the end of this year, but this week got more specific. "4G LTE service has been deployed in 92 markets, and will be in 133 markets by the end of the year," a U.S. Cellular spokeswoman tells Fierce Wireless. "Currently, 61 percent of U.S. Cellular customers have access to 4G LTE speeds, and 87 percent are expected to be covered by the end of the year." U.S. Cellular is undergoing a significant transformation as new CEO Kenneth Meyers makes his mark, a mark which unfortunately has included the death of a lot of consumer friendly perks and programs at the carrier.
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IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

1 edit

IPPlanMan

Member

No iPhone offered yet?

US Cellular still isn't listed as a supported carrier for the iPhone...

»www.fiercewireless.com/s ··· 13-05-03

iPhone LTE Bands:
»www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

US Cellular LTE Bands:
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li ··· networks
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

2 edits

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: No iPhone offered yet?

They will be. But that brings up a big mess, as their current LTE band 12 700 a is not supported. So they have to re-purpose some of their other 850 spectrum and build another LTE network.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Wish they'd expand

Wish they'd expand their footprint into Southern New England. They have them up in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

They have better pricing but they would not get my business until they add the iPhone to their fleet. We had US Cellular when I lived in Iowa back when their network was D-AMPS. My first cell phone was through US Cellular but I eventually went over to Verizon as VZ had better coverage and rates at the time but I was on prepaid.

Now I still have Verizon 12 years later but I did go with AT&T from 2004 to 2011 because VZ for a while had spotty coverage when I moved to Springfield MA.

j1349705
Premium Member
join:2006-04-15
Holly Springs, NC

j1349705

Premium Member

Re: Wish they'd expand

I don't think they will be expanding any time soon... they recently sold several markets (including St. Louis, Chicago, central Illinois, and three other Midwest markets) . They also sold some AWS spectrum to T-Mobile. Various forums are full of complaints about major billing issues and the end of multiple loyalty programs.

They are acting like a company that wants to be acquired, rather than expand to new areas. This is very unfortunate since US Cellular has been known for having very good network quality and customer service in the areas they served.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os

Member

4G

I hope this means that they'll be expanding 4G coverage in areas where they've launched it like Western MD. 4G LTE coverage here is very spotty, and nonexistent at my house.

I also hope new iPhone people don't end up degrading the network even more than it already is, as US Cellular 4G doesn't seem to be nearly as fast as their competitors.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Enthusiasm!

Lot of enthusiasm in this thread!

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· 1r1KTjaE
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

I don't care anymore

Yeah, tons of enthusiasm in here, hahaha,

While I'll be sad to lose my 5GB/mo. plan, I'm inching closer to being totally done with them and moving to Verizon.

Even when they might finally get LTE in my city, roaming breaks down like this:
*No 4G roaming. No plans for it. Confirmed via email to support (which took them about a month to answer)
*200MB roaming limit (over 3G). 200MB. That is kind of lame.
*3G roaming only.

If the carriers had ANY level of decent interoperability with "4G" I think this might be less of an issue for me.

It's also very convenient that they suddenly drop the whole "no more contract" thing almost exactly 2yrs. after starting it, while other carriers seem to be bringing these options up.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os

Member

Other Things Gone at US Cellular

Battery Swap
My Contacts Backup
One and Done Contracts

Soon, mobile share plans are coming on board which will make it as expensive as Verizon or AT&T. I'm expecting they'll try and kill a plan like I got with 5GB data, 450 minutes and unlimited texting for $69.99 a month back in 2009.

They're bleeding customers, and they've already sold off their largest markets, so I think the big sale is ultimately going to come soon to either Verizon or Sprint. Considering the problems previously documented here about roaming capped at 200MB and limited to 3G, this will be a net positive for us with coverage.