No More US Cellular

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Over the past 3 months my US Cellular cell service and internet has gone from really good to really horrible. I started working with them about a month ago to find a resolution...nothing worked. Last week my average download/upload speeds were in the range of about 1.5-4/.04-1.2 Mbps. I finally got an explanation (though I have no idea of whether or not it's the right explanation) that with the termination of 3G lots of people who shouldn't have been affected, were. This occurred in mostly rural areas with marginal service in the first place. They haven't been able to determine what the problem is. Obviously I'm not gonna pay for service that bad.

US Cellular was pretty good about the early termination. Just send us the phones and modem back and they'll waive all the fees.

I did a trial with T-Mobile and it's working out really well. Far, far better cell service at the house and saving around $40 month with better plans. The "Geezer" (55+ plans) even include Netflix, Apple TV and a year of AAA roadside service. Internet speeds are blazing fast.

The girl we worked with in the T-Mobile store in Ada said the rumor is T-Mobile is buying US Cellular. Apparently that's true though I don't think anything is finalized yet. I've never had service with T-Mobile before but so far the experience has been very positive.

 

[Shadowrider]

I had T-Mobile 5G internet for about a year before I pulled the plug. It was kinda hard to believe the speeds it got on cellular towers. It was great at first but slowed over time and finally got too slow to deal with. What I suspect the problem was, was that they just too popular and the towers became "saturated".

Everytime I'd talk to support they'd say the tower load was really high at that time. Their system and service are pretty dang good as you get to talk to someone in OKC that knows what's going on. You probably won't have that issue being rural.

 

[SoonerP226]

I’ve had T-Mobile service for a while now, thanks to their acquisition of Sprint. I never really had any problems with Sprint, and T-Mobile seems to be about the same.

Dunno if I’d feel the same way if I hadn’t had the abysmal AT$T for a comparison—my old work cell and “tin cans and string,” err, Uverse at home were AT$T.

 

[Cowcatcher]

I don’t blame you at all. No need paying for something that doesn’t work. However, I’ve been with US for just over 20 years and it’s been pretty good for me. I’ve had an issue a time or two and when I attempted to rage quit they motivated me to stay in one way or another. We had some sketchy service a year or two ago but luckily I had met a fella on this very forum who was a us cellular tower troubleshooting guru. He had a crew go make some adjustments and he’d swing out this way every once in a while to take readings. He transitioned to a different job so I’m hoping the service stays as good as it is since I lost my phone a friend.

 

[kingfish]

When I first got T-Mobile internet, after initializing the modem and only having my iphone connected to it, I got a mind blowing 496 mb test. Once I got all our devices connected it slowed down considerably. During peak periods I was getting 20-30 mb. We got a notification from T-Mobile the other day that the tower I use would be down for a few hours overnight for upgrades. I tested the next day and was getting around 130 mb which I am quite satisfied with. I was paying more with TDS for 12mb than what T-Mobile is charging. T-Mobile has been the best commercial business I have ever dealt with since I became an adult. Very rare these days.

 

[BobbyV]

Dunno if I’d feel the same way if I hadn’t had the abysmal AT$T for a comparison—my old work cell and “tin cans and string,” err, Uverse at home were AT$T.

I'm sure I'll jinx our service, but I have no complaints about AT&T for our phones or home internet. Granted, it's my only option for home internet that isn't wireless broadband. Been there, done that.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

When I first got T-Mobile internet, after initializing the modem and only having my iphone connected to it, I got a mind blowing 496 mb test. Once I got all our devices connected it slowed down considerably. During peak periods I was getting 20-30 mb. We got a notification from T-Mobile the other day that the tower I use would be down for a few hours overnight for upgrades. I tested the next day and was getting around 130 mb which I am quite satisfied with. I was paying more with TDS for 12mb than what T-Mobile is charging. T-Mobile has been the best commercial business I have ever dealt with since I became an adult. Very rare these days.

I was really pleased with the service we got in the store...which is rare these days. When we finished up we went out for pizza and brought a big ole pizza back for the 4 ladies working in the store. They were pretty happy with that. Our speeds weren't quite that fast, but last night around 9pm it was just under 100. Right now with a desktop, laptop and two smart phones on it we're at 54/11 up/down. Compared to what I'm accustomed to that's mind-blowing fast and it's way more than adequate for what we do.

I had AT&T DSL in Olustee. $70 mo for 18Mbps but it was just me and it was very reliable so it worked out fine...except for the exorbitant cost. US Cellular was $70 for their "unlimited" internet with a 300gig monthly cap at the highest speed. 2 gigs of data for the phones.

T-Mobile Geezer plan is truly unlimited talk/text/data/internet, no data caps, no throttling down, and prioritized service on heavily utilized circuits (or whatever they're called). And they put it in writing our cost for the plan we're on will never go up as long as we're with them. Wife got a new iPhone 13 (ugh...) free. I got a new S23 Ultra for $400. All in all I feel it was a good deal for where we are. We're pretty limited in options.

 

[Letfreedomring]

We switched to T-mobile from Verizon last year for half the price and I thought I had screwed up since service around TUL (work) was sketchy at best, but within the last couple of months, the signal has improved significantly. I'm assuming it was due to the 5G interference with the metal birds and what not. We did go with Verizon lte home internet just in case one provider or the other went down we'd still have service from other carrier. We're happy campers and saving quite a bit from our old plans: Verizon mobile and AT&T puke-verse.

 

[Snattlerake]

I really think the problem is like @Shadowrider says, it was just too popular. This causes overloading of the towers. This makes it really hard on towers US Cellular and T Mobil don't own. AT&T towers sell their bandwidth AT&T is not using to T and US. However, it is AT&T's tower and they get priority over their leases. Some calls just get bumped.

US Cellular brags on the fact they don't own or maintain the towers. THis tells me they get secondary bandwidth when available.

AT&T also has a first responder plan that prioritizes first responder phones and equipment.

 

[HoLeChit]

Honestly, I hate TMobile with a passion. When I was younger, I owed them some cash, guess I didn't pay off my last bill or they hit me with a fee when closing my account or something. Well, I owed them $40 or so. Was in collections, and I was trying to buy my first house. Ended up having to pay it off 3 different times, because they would take my money, charge my account, and then not clear out my old balance, then claim that I never paid. After the second time I did that they sold my debt to a collector. I paid the collector, disputed the record, and finally got it cleared off.

ATT internet if you have fiber is great, but the regular internet is just a step or two above satellite in my opinion. I have never had satellite internet, so this isn't based on fact, just imagination. Its terrible. I had a ATT work number for a long time, if was nice to have, as I could sometimes get service with it when I didn't have service on my Verizon personal number.

Personally I just stick with Verizon. They're a bunch of turds, not much better than ATT, and they're more expensive than anybody else, but I have found their service to be more reliable and I have better coverage out in the middle of nowhere.

For the record, I do everything I can to avoid giving ATT my money, or any networks that piggyback off their infrastructure due to Project Hemisphere and the FAIRVIEW Program.

https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hubs/