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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

#31

Post by kyrra »

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.

While it doesn't impact me, I spent a few years in Iowa, which has pretty junk coverage from every carrier except US Cellular. I was surprised by how many people used them in Iowa (and that they had the most store-front stores around). While you'll get coverage along the major highways (which means all the major cities have coverage from AT&T and Verizon), when you start driving into farmland, US Cellular is the only option.

There are definitely places where this US Cellular is the only option, and this is an awesome addition for those people.

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

#34

Post by feld »

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.

I'm from SW wisconsin and it's terrible down there. Verizon is now decent, but ATT still sucks. They both cost about the same so you have to gamble.

Now that I only visit there a couple times a year I use Tmobile which can roam for voice/text in case of an emergency. It's not worth my money to have coverage when I'm never there anymore.

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

#35

Post by flardinois »

vecinu wrote: post #30
Fej wrote: post #29

This is cool and all, but I'm worried that Google will just pull the plug during one "spring cleaning" event. Plus T-Mobile's $100/4 lines/2 GB per line is just unbeatable right now... cheaper and more data.

> Plus T-Mobile's $100/4 lines/2 GB per line is just unbeatable right now... cheaper and more data. Except you don't have worldwide roaming included in your plan, which you have to pay extra for. That's a reason why I'm not changing from Fi. Also the fact that data I don't use is reimbursed.

Worldwide roaming is included in all of T-Mobile's postpaid plans if I'm not mistaken.

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

#36

Post by narrowrail »

surge wrote: post #18
flyinghamster wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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...

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

#37

Post by douche »

Oh, US Cellular... Somehow I can be near line-of-sight to one of their towers, and barely get two bars of service.

At least its cheap, although I am still grandfathered into my parents' family plan for around $20/month. I think an equivalent individual plan from ATT or Verizon in this area would run over $100, which would be ridiculous for the 3-4 phone calls a month I make.

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

#38

Post by sumitgt »

I must say Project FI has worked out really nice for me. I'm usually in Wifi range, so my data usage is very low. Works out to around $27 each month. And the service is really good.

BUT, I live in the constant fear of Google shutting down the service. In fact I'm slowly finding myself skeptical of adopting new Google products because I'm worried it will go away.

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

#39

Post by narrowrail »

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.

>It'll be good for truly last mile users

Who isn't a last mile user?

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

#40

Post by ElijahLynn »

sumitgt wrote: post #38

I must say Project FI has worked out really nice for me. I'm usually in Wifi range, so my data usage is very low. Works out to around $27 each month. And the service is really good. BUT, I live in the constant fear of Google shutting down the service. In fact I'm slowly finding myself skeptical of adopting new Google products because I'm worried it will go away.

I hear you on the fear of Google shutting it down but I wouldn't with Project Fi. This is a communications product. They need people to get fast access to their products. This product will never go away, just like their Fiber efforts.

They purchased Grand Central like 10 years ago and never killed it.

Grand Central -> Google Voice -> Project Fi.

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