Prepaid Reviews Blog » U.S. Cellular

U.S. Cellular adds Samsung Chrono

Joe — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:43:02 +0000

It’s not often we get news from U.S. Cellular‘s prepaid arm, but today we learned of a new handset for the regional carrier. It’s the Samsung Chrono, and it’s as basic as they come these days. It’s a flip phone with an external monochrome display and a color one on the inside. The camera is VGA quality. Of course, the price is as entry-level as the device, just $19.99 without a commitment. You can get the Samsung Chrono and a prepaid plan at U.S. Cellular’s website.

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U.S. Cellular to offer prepaid Android handsets

Joe — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:01:30 +0000

Late last week US Cellular announced that it will offer two prepaid Android phones, with a pair of plans to go with them. The first handset is the LG Apex, a touchscreen device with a full QWERTY keyboard, which runs $249.99. The LG Optimus U, a variant of the Optimus One series that has appeared on most major carriers, is a full-touchscreen device that will run $199.99. The two plans run $60 — 450 minutes, unlimited text, 2GB of data — and $70 — unlimited minutes and messages, 2GB of data. That’s still a bit more than other prepaid competitors offering Android devices, but it’s close enough that if you prefer U.S. Cellular, you still have a quality offering.

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US Cellular introduces prepaid unlimited plans

Joe — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:30:08 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from US Cellular prepaid. They’ve been doing plenty of things on the postpaid end for sure, and they even have a decent lineup of smartphones right now. On the prepaid end they now have unlimited plans. Yesterday they introduced three of them. Instead of going with tiers based on escalating voice minutes, US Cellular got a little creative on this one. Each of the three plans is tailored to a specific type of user.

The plans look pretty good, too:

$29 per month: 200 anytime minutes, unlimited text, picture, and video messaging.

$39 per month: 400 minutes, unlimited messages, 5GB of data

$49: 1,000 minutes and unlimited messaging

The $29 plan figures to sell well, as it covers the features people use most. Web browsers get a little break with the $39 plan, since that’s plenty of data.

You can sign up for these plans and get a corresponding phone at US Cellular’s website.

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US Cellular introduces LG Wine

Joe — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:00:42 +0000

That there is the LG Wine, the newest addition to the US Cellular handset lineup (hat tip to Phone News). It’s a pretty basic clamshell model, featuring a 1.3 megapixel camera with video, Bluetooth, and GPS support. Most of the material out there focuses on the contract price, which can be as low $29.95 after rebates. However, for you prepaid folks out there, it looks like you can nab it for $179.95. That might be a bit steep for a basic model, but that is the burden prepaid users bear for not signing a contract.

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U.S. Cellular holds Safety Day

Joe — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:30:43 +0000

Boy, aren’t the fellows at U.S. Cellular swell? First the offer talking to kids and parents about wireless safety. It’s part of Wireless Safety Month, a national initiative. It included the U.S. Cellular mascot, a giant — guess what — cell phone, who taught children the basics of dialing 9-1-1.

“Teaching kids to dial 9-1-1 is a simple exercise that could save a life,” said Jack Brundige, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in Tennessee. “We all share the responsibility of helping kids learn safe habits and when we can bring the right people together, great things happen.”

Among the safety activities were demonstrations from the local rescue squad, the distribution of DNA testing kits, and…pony rides. Gee, one of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong. But hey, it must have been fun for the kids.

So I guess this is two days in row where we can take off the cellular company-aimed snark and praise U.S. Cellular for doing good in the community.

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U.S. Cellular helps out flood victims

Joe — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:00:09 +0000

We spend a lot of time talking about the evils of cell phone carriers, so I’m glad to give some positive space to U.S. Cellular. As you probably know, there has been some serious flooding in Iowa. To add to the relief effort, U.S. Cell is offering free phone calls from its three Cedar Rapids and two Coralville stores. This is in addition to the free phone calls available at the Red Cross Shelter at Prairie High School.

“During these tough times, it’s important for people to stay connected to their friends and family,” said Rick Thompson, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in Iowa.

The company will also provide phone charging at these locations, and as well will supply phone directories. They definitely deserve a pat on the back for this effort.

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U.S. Cellular not sweating competition

Joe — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:00:54 +0000

With Verizon’s purchase of Alltel, it’s only natural to wonder about the fates of other regional carriers. Will other carriers want to consolidate and pick up some more pieces to their spectrum puzzle? If they do, there might be no better target than U.S. Cellular. They are the nation’s No. 6 wireless provider, soon to be No. 5 by default once Alltel is assimilated into Verizon. But they don’t Tracfone Prepaid information on the web!

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U.S. Cellular, JumpTap team for mobile search and ads

Joe — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:00:05 +0000

Is this the bit that will lead U.S. Cellular to add data plans to its prepaid service? Once can only hope. The nation’s No. 6 wireless carrier has employed JumpTap for its search and advertising solutions. I have an issue or two with this, but if it brings mobile Web to prepaid for U.S. Cell, it’s tough to complain. But I’m always up for arguing, so let’s go.

I’m not a big fan of combining search and advertising. Normally, it leads to searches that suck. I’m not looking for content that Provider X paid to put in front of me. I’m looking for the query I entered in the search bar. Yet, it appears JumpTap doesn’t care what I’m looking for. It cares about the content producers that pay them.

From the press release: “Additionally, local and national content publishers and advertisers will be able bid on search queries to further hone their target market for each specific ad campaign.”

See? Obviously, this can be good for content providers and advertisers. They can bogart the search queries. As the late, great Russell Shaw said of this year in mobile search: “Mobile Search will still suck.”

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U.S. Cellular to get faster, expanded network

Joe — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:02:21 +0000

Good news for all you U.S. Cellular prepaid customers. The nation’s No. 6 wireless carrier has signed a deal with Alcatel-Lucent which will give them a larger and faster network. Any maneuver that helps improve service is huge for regional carriers like U.S. Cell. They’re up against enormous national networks with tens of millions of subscribers. The only question is whether this is enough to allow them to grow along with the larger carriers.

“We have the potential to deliver download speeds that are seven to eight times faster than today and uploads speeds that are twice as fast,” said Mike Dienhart, U.S. Cellular’s senior director of national network equipment.

The faster speeds will bring with it mobile video, audio, and other multimedia services. These kinds of services are almost necessities for carriers at this point if they want to remain competitive. It’s the way the industry is trending. Good to see U.S. Cellular doing what they can to keep up.

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U.S. Cellular to boost mobile network

Joe — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:30:31 +0000

If you follow cell phone network news (which you are, I guess, if you’re reading this site), you might be familiar with a company called Nortel. They provide communications technologies to, among other businesses, cell phone service providers. They’re usually hanging around CDMA companies, offering their solutions. U.S. Cellular is their latest contract, as the nation’s sixth-largest wireless company will use Nortel’s services to make it’s CDMA network more powerful.

The deal will allow U.S. Cellular, the sixth-largest wireless company in the United States, to keep adding subscribers and provide services such as web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging and gaming. U.S. Cellular has 6 million subscribers in 26 states.
…
U.S. Cellular will buy Nortel’s CDMA switching, base stations and software. The pact also includes emergency technical support, performance monitoring and other services.

It’s tough to comment on deals like this, since I’m not too familiar with Nortel’s competitors. Still, they are the largest telephone equipment company in North America, so it’s tough to go wrong…I guess. It’s seemingly working out for Cricket.

[Reuters]

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