U.S. Cellular


United States Cellular Corporation, doing business as U.S. Cellular, is a mobile network operator which owns and operates the fourth largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, serving 5 million customers in 426 markets in 23 U.S. states as of the first quarter of 2017. The company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
U.S. Cellular was formed in 1983 as a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc., which owns an 84% stake.

Timeline

CDMA/3G network

Originally, U.S. Cellular used analog, then Digital AMPS "TDMA" cell phones in most markets, but the company started shifting over to 1xRTT CDMA technology in 2003. After the switch, U.S. Cellular has discontinued all analog and TDMA services. Starting in 2009, U.S. Cellular converted its network to EVDO which offered 3G speeds.
The company offers national 3G coverage through roaming agreements. Native coverage is mainly in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, parts of the East and New England. Although headquartered in Chicago, U.S. Cellular did not offer service in the Chicago metropolitan area until it acquired territories from PrimeCo Communications between 2002 and 2003, after the formation of Verizon Wireless.

4G LTE network

U.S. Cellular announced that it would start offering 4G coverage to customers beginning in the first quarter of 2012. Just like the other larger wireless competitors, the company decided to go with LTE for its 4G coverage. The rollout was planned for selected cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma. These include some of U.S. Cellular's leading markets such as Milwaukee, Madison and Racine, Wis.; Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, Iowa; Portland, Bangor and Houlton, Maine; and Greenville, N.C. As of November 14, 2012, U.S. Cellular has added additional 4G LTE markets, including Southern Oregon.
US Cellular's LTE network is primarily built upon two low-frequency LTE bands; 12 and 5. Through the agreement with King Street Wireless, US Cellular has access to the lower 700 MHz A, B, and C blocks across most of their operating markets. Spectrum bandwidth on LTE includes,
5*5, or 10*10 MHz on band 12 700 MHz
5*5 MHz on band 5 850 MHz
5*5, or 10*10 MHz on band 4 AWS 1
Supplementary spectrum in the band 2 1900 PCS, and band 4 2100/1700 AWS 1 and 3 bands can be deployed across US Cellular's LTE network for additional capacity in the future. Furthermore, additional 850 MHz Cellular spectrum could be refarmed from 1X CDMA to create a wider 10*10 MHz channel allocated for LTE.
US Cellular has made plans to launch their first market with VoLTE during the first quarter of 2017. The company has begun VoLTE trials during 2016 and will continue upgrading equipment in select markets to allow the trial process to continue following the services official launch.
In December 2019, US Cellular was found in an FCC investigation to have lied about its 4G LTE coverage by as much as 38%, only managing to reach the federally mandated minimum speeds 45% of the time.

5G network

U.S. Cellular announced plans to launch its first phone with 5G support, the Samsung Galaxy S20, as well as coverage maps for its first commercial 5G network in both urban and rural parts of Iowa and Wisconsin in February 2020.

Radio frequency summary

Phones

The company offers phones manufactured by Google, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Alcatel, Pantech and Apple.

Belief Project

On October 1, 2010, U.S. Cellular unveiled its customer reward program as "The Belief Project".
On September 1, 2015, U.S. Cellular shuttered the rewards program.

Belief Plans

All Belief plans are nationwide with no additional roaming charges in the United States. These plans all include at no additional charge: incoming calls, nights & weekends starting at 7pm, and mobile-to-mobile calls between U.S. Cellular customers. At the beginning of the Belief Project, customers were only required to fulfill one twenty-four month agreement per line. After the first initial contract, customers no longer had to sign contracts and could continue to buy new phones at promotional prices when eligible. However, as of Q3 2013, the "one-and-done" contract provision was discontinued on all plans, and, as of January 8, 2015, customers can no longer receive a device subsidy on most Belief Plans when eligible. Instead, they have to purchase devices at full cost without contract, or purchase devices on no-interest 24-month installment plans added to their monthly bills. Customers on Belief Plans earned points each month as part of the Belief Rewards program and they could also be earned by referring customers or participating in other promotional activities. These points could be redeemed for early upgrades, free accessories, phones, overage "forgiveness" and ringtones and ringbacks. However, the Rewards Points program has been discontinued as of September 1, 2015.

Belief Plans Evolved (BPE)

As of May 1, 2012, U.S. Cellular rolled out a new set of Belief Plans. The new plans retain all of the same free calling features as the previous Belief Plans and also applies to 'connected devices' offering tiered data packages. Like many carriers, U.S. Cellular charges a fee for overage on data. Like the original Belief Plans, customers can no longer receive device subsidies when eligible, instead having to opt for full-price purchases or 24-month installments added to their monthly bills. Unlike Shared Data Plans, customers on Belief Plans do not receive plan discounts for full-price or installment purchases at the time of upgrade eligibility. The only option for subsidized upgrades is for customers to migrate to Shared Data plans.

Shared Data Plans

On October 13, 2013, U.S. Cellular unveiled its take on Shared Data plans. The plans are comparable to other carriers Shared Data options, but still include all of the same free calling features. A further enhancement to the Shared Data plans was unveiled during Q2 2014, where customers could opt to purchase devices under no-interest "installment agreements" in lieu of a device subsidy. The installment plans are based on the full device cost spread out over 24 equal monthly installment payments, in addition to the cellular service cost. Customers who purchase equipment on installment plans receive discounts on their "connection charges" to their shared data plans, and pay lower activation fees on devices. There is also no penalty for early payoff for devices on installment plans. Customers who purchase devices under installment payments on shared data plans also have an "early upgrade" option to trade-in their devices after 18 payments in order to upgrade to a new device superseded by another installment agreement on the new device. In November, 2015, an enhancement was made to allow customers who purchase devices on installment plans to be able to "pay down" their devices in multiples of the device's monthly installment cost at any time. Thus, customers can now either pay off their devices in full at any time or make extra payments towards their devices.

Unlimited Evolved Plans

In November 2019, U.S. Cellular updated its price plans under the Unlimited Evolved branding. These price plans included features like HD video streaming, hotspot access, and international roaming allowances.

Corporate headquarters

The company has its headquarters in almost in the U.S. Cellular Plaza complex in O'Hare, Chicago, Illinois, near O'Hare International Airport.

Corporate sponsorship

U.S. Cellular owns the naming rights to:
The company formerly owned the naming rights to:
U.S. Cellular serves as the title sponsor of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the U.S. Cellular 250, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. It has also served as the presenting sponsor of the 80/35 Music Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, since its inception in 2008.

Sound logo

The sonic logo, tag, audio mnemonic was produced by Musikvergnuegen and written by Walter Werzowa from the Austrian 1980s sampling band Edelweiss.