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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

#81

Post by narrowrail »

nathancahill wrote: post #57
narrowrail wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as the Rockies are concerned, Verizon seems to have the best coverage by far. I've had a cell phone since '96, and ~99% of the resort towns have the big 4, but VZ is in the most remote places I've seen. Edit: Here is an interesting chart of wireless providers in the US [0]; lots more providers w/ 10K-1M subcribers than I realized. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless...

Which part of the Rockies? AT&T has hands-down the best coverage at the ski resorts in Colorado. They even have coverage in A-Basin, which is a dead zone to everyone else.

I am talking about CO, but mostly more off the beaten path resorts such as T-Ride, Butte, and the Boat. I started with Voicestream (now T-Mobile) back in '96 and it was quite bad. Back-country has always been best with VZ, and that is the same today.

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

#82

Post by joshfraser »

why-el wrote: post #65
joshfraser wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can stick an activated Fi SIM in an iPhone if you want. It's undocumented, but it works fine. The only thing I lost was smooth switching between cellular and wifi, but otherwise I've been quite happy with it.

Do you mean if you do this you will have to do the manual switch every time? And may I ask which iPhone you have? I have an iPhone 5.

Calls get dropped if you're on wifi and walk outside. iPhone 6.

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

#83

Post by joshfraser »

corywatilo wrote: post #52
joshfraser wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can stick an activated Fi SIM in an iPhone if you want. It's undocumented, but it works fine. The only thing I lost was smooth switching between cellular and wifi, but otherwise I've been quite happy with it.

And iMessage on your root phone number, right?

yep, on my email address & Fi number.

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

#84

Post by yompers888 »

plusbryan wrote: post #4

Good to see the network growing! Looking at US Cellular's coverage map ( https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.h... ), this news won't benefit the sf bay area, but help users in the northwest, northeast, and midwest.

Yeah, this is pretty exciting for me. I've been using Fi since Republic became nearly unusable about nine months back. I have a 50-something hour drive coming up later this month, and before this happened I was planning on buying a month of Verizon prepaid so I could call people while I drove. Now I should be able to avoid all the inconvenience of having a different number for a month!

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

#85

Post by yompers888 »

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.

Why not use one of the newer phones? I've had the 6p (Huawei) since release, and it's pretty nice (although I wish I'd gotten 5x (LG) and waited a while to save money.) The 6p has been aggressively discounted the past few weeks, and I imagine the 5x is in the same boat.

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

#86

Post by stevehawk »

I'm not a google chat/hangouts/mail/etc user... or current Android phone user.. so please excuse my ignorance

if I switch to Project Fi am I going to be expected to signup and use all of these things? As in, is it significantly cheaper because now I'm the product? Or am I getting a legitimate Android handset I can root and go about my way like I would with any other carrier?

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

#87

Post by glitch003 »

stevehawk wrote: post #86

I'm not a google chat/hangouts/mail/etc user... or current Android phone user.. so please excuse my ignorance if I switch to Project Fi am I going to be expected to signup and use all of these things? As in, is it significantly cheaper because now I'm the product? Or am I getting a legitimate Android handset I can root and go about my way like I would with any other carrier?

You are getting a legitimate Android handset that you can root and go about your way like you would with any other carrier.

(As long as that handset is a Nexus 5x, Nexus 6, or Nexus 6P, because those are the only phones that work with Google Fi right now.)

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

#89

Post by eitally »

surge wrote: post #21
plusbryan wrote: post #4

Good to see the network growing! Looking at US Cellular's coverage map ( https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.h... ), this news won't benefit the sf bay area, but help users in the northwest, northeast, and midwest.

It'll be good for truly last mile users, I imagine SF bay area has plenty of options (although I know they want Google too), this seems to provide a possible broadband ISP option for those that would otherwise have none.

Fi is great in the SFBA because, even though all the major players operate here, none of them have comprehensively high quality service without significant dead spots.
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