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US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

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Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#11

Post by fakename »

mmanfrin wrote: post #6
kevinnk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on your experience? Is there just not enough coverage or is it something else that makes it mediocre? Where are you located? I was thinking of switching from Verizon (bay area) and would be interested to hear from someone who's already using it.

As someone from the bay area who has also had a mediocre experience, I can maybe answer: Speeds have been fine, but there are areas where it'll show full bars but provide no data (like in BART stations, my hunch is that those use femtocells that don't handle FI users properly). Additionally, occasionally it'll swap networks (I think, goes from LTE/HSPA/3G) and the 'swaps' have like 30 second switchover times. Then th…

I'm on a prepaid t mobile plan, and I also notice data not working on Bart, despite full LTE bars

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#13

Post by throwaya »

mmanfrin wrote: post #6
kevinnk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on your experience? Is there just not enough coverage or is it something else that makes it mediocre? Where are you located? I was thinking of switching from Verizon (bay area) and would be interested to hear from someone who's already using it.

As someone from the bay area who has also had a mediocre experience, I can maybe answer: Speeds have been fine, but there are areas where it'll show full bars but provide no data (like in BART stations, my hunch is that those use femtocells that don't handle FI users properly). Additionally, occasionally it'll swap networks (I think, goes from LTE/HSPA/3G) and the 'swaps' have like 30 second switchover times. Then th…

I've had a little bit of a different experience (not in CA but still southwest)

Regarding price: I don't use my 3GB, usually under 1GB due to Wifi at home/work/public transport so project fi is nice because it takes the amount I didn't use and refunds me at $10/GB for the next bill.

I get sms's from shortcodes fine and haven't had any issues but maybe its because of the companies (apple, amazon, google, github) are whitelisted from other peoples bug reports.

I haven't run into the auto public wifi-connect issue that much, it seems to work well for public transport and seems to fallback to lte when a login screen is required, but maybe I just haven't experienced as many login page wifi networks.

I think I would go with tmobile if I had multiple people on my bill though because you get discounts for that which isn't there for fi.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#14

Post by flyinghamster »

Analemma_ wrote: post #9

Huh, I did not know until just now that US Cellular owned their own network. I could've sworn that Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint were the only four network owners in America and US Cellular was an MVNO. Guess that says something about either the quality of their network or the quality of their marketing.

US Cellular really is a regional carrier, though they use roaming for nationwide coverage. They specialize in blanketing areas that have little or no coverage from the majors (SW Wisconsin being a good example).

On the other hand, one irony is that even though they still have naming rights for the White Sox' ballpark, they pulled out of the Chicago market and sold what spectrum they had in the area to Sprint.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#15

Post by etjossem »

Analemma_ wrote: post #9

Huh, I did not know until just now that US Cellular owned their own network. I could've sworn that Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint were the only four network owners in America and US Cellular was an MVNO. Guess that says something about either the quality of their network or the quality of their marketing.

US Cellular expanded in the Midwest (starting in their home market of Chicago) while other networks focused on the coasts. They still do partnership agreements though - so although I'm a US Cellular customer, I get roaming coverage in the Bay Area.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#16

Post by BooneJS »

benmcnelly wrote: post #10

This is great news, as we have quite a bit of coverage by them here (Midwest). I feel like I see a lot of people mention issues with Fi on the web, I must be one of the lucky few that have not only had no issues, but stellar performance all around.

Yes, they have the best rural coverage in the Midwest (Verizon, thanks to AllTel, is a close 2nd.)

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#17

Post by dforrestwilson »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #3

Its good to see them expanding the networks, if only a little. I've been on Project Fi for ~6 months or so and its been a fairly mediocre experience so far, but it works well enough for the price point I suppose.

I am also using and loving Google Fi so far. No manipulative billing practices designed to obscure the true cost. Reasonable metered data prices.

The only downside is having to use a Motorola phone. They seem to always break within 1.5 years of purchase.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#18

Post by surge »

flyinghamster wrote: post #14
Analemma_ wrote: post #9

Huh, I did not know until just now that US Cellular owned their own network. I could've sworn that Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint were the only four network owners in America and US Cellular was an MVNO. Guess that says something about either the quality of their network or the quality of their marketing.

US Cellular really is a regional carrier, though they use roaming for nationwide coverage. They specialize in blanketing areas that have little or no coverage from the majors (SW Wisconsin being a good example). On the other hand, one irony is that even though they still have naming rights for the White Sox' ballpark, they pulled out of the Chicago market and sold what spectrum they had in the area to Sprint.

Yep, US Cellular seems to be the only cell phone towers I can get on roaming when an area is "middle of nowhere" and I'll see a small dealer/shop in small towns. Like you said, they seem to specialize in markets that other carriers wouldn't bother with, like remote parts of Alaska, or small mountain towns.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#19

Post by fizzbatter »

dforrestwilson wrote: post #17
AcerbicZero wrote: post #3

Its good to see them expanding the networks, if only a little. I've been on Project Fi for ~6 months or so and its been a fairly mediocre experience so far, but it works well enough for the price point I suppose.

I am also using and loving Google Fi so far. No manipulative billing practices designed to obscure the true cost. Reasonable metered data prices. The only downside is having to use a Motorola phone. They seem to always break within 1.5 years of purchase.

I'm quite excited to try it. Unfortunately (or fortunately) i'm on T-Mobile, with a no contract $30/m Unlimited text/data plan (very few minutes), and that's just really hard to beat.

Note that this plan might not be available anymore.. not sure really, but i know i often get flack for being on this plan from tmo. It clearly isn't making them enough money, but my god, i love it.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#20

Post by jdavis703 »

danellis wrote: post #12

Unless they offer LTE in Canada, this doesn't compare well to my T-Mobile plan, other than diverse networks. That's the one thing that definitely put me off trying it.

I haven't been to Canada with Project Fi, but I got LTE all over London, Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin and Málaga with them. I'd think that Canada has similar infrastructure in place :)
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