u.s. cellular

Sprint inks $480 million deal for U.S. Cellular customers, spectrum

Sprint is starting to flex some muscle with regional carriers.

The company announced today that it has inked a deal with U.S. Cellular for $480 million. The deal: Sprint will acquire 20MHz of PCS spectrum in the 1900MHz band across Chicago, South Bend, Ind., and Champaign, Ill. Sprint will also get 10Mhz of spectrum in the St. Louis market, as well as 585,000 customers, or about 10 percent of U.S. Cellular's subscriber base.

"Acquiring this spectrum will significantly increase Sprint's network capacity and improve the customer experience in several important Midwest markets including Chicago … Read more

Motorola Electrify M bring more LTE to U.S. Cellular

U.S. Cellular today announced its next 4G LTE smartphone, the Android-based Motorola Electrify M. It will join the lineup in the coming days.

Powered by 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the handset goes on sale on the carrier's Web site on November 8 and in retail stores the following day. It's the third handset in the carrier's Electrify line after the original Electrify and the Electrify 2.

Pricing will vary depend on whether the buyer is in a 4G LTE market. Live inside the 4G footprint and your cost is $99.99 after a $100 mail-in … Read more

U.S. Cellular expands LTE to more than 30 new markets

U.S. Cellular is expanding its 4G LTE coverage area to more than 30 new markets on Monday, extending the carrier's footprint for the high-speed network to more than half of its customers.

The rollout will bring LTE to select cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, and brings new LTE coverage to some of U.S. Cellular's markets in Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The next wave of market launches will follow shortly in Rockford, Ill., Medford, Ore., Yakima, Wash., and Knoxville, Tenn., the company said today.

By the end of … Read more

Low-price Huawei Ascend Y joins U.S. Cellular (hands-on)

Today, Huawei and U.S. Cellular announced the Huawei Ascend Y, a budget Android smartphone for first-timers. A few weeks ago, I got to briefly handle the Muve Music device.

With its Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, the Ascend Y certainly isn't angling for tech-savvy users, or those ready to invest in a higher-cost handset. Its 3.5-inch touch screen definitely felt small compared with today's larger-screen phones, but its HVGA (480x320-pixel) resolution is appropriate for the display and looked fine. The Swype virtual keyboard will help compose text in tight spaces.

I didn't get an opportunity … Read more

U.S. Cellular to sell Motorola Electrify 2 and Defy XT

U.S. Cellular just announced plans to offer two new Android smartphones, the slim Motorola Electrify 2 and rugged Defy XT on August 1 and August 3.

The Electrify 2, a follow-up to the original Electrify will ship running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and 4.3-inch LCD screen featuring Motorola's ColorBoost enhancements. … Read more

Get to know America's carriers, big and small

How well do you know your carrier options?

Maybe very well, if you happen to follow the ins and outs of changing plans and perks. However, you may not be aware that Cricket has a roaming agreement with Sprint, or that Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile now have 4G.

If you're a beginner, or just happen to enjoy carrier trivia, check out this quick guide to carriers.

HTC One V lands at Virgin Mobile, U.S. Cellular

HTC today confirmed U.S availability plans for its One V smartphone.

The Android handset is now on sale with Virgin Mobile for $199 without a contract. It will come to U.S. Cellular on July 3 for $129 with service and later to a selection of smaller regional wireless providers that are part of the Associated Carrier Group.

First announced in February at Mobile World Congress, the One V is a lower-end version of HTC's flagship phone, the One X. Features include Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 3.7-inch screen and 5-megapixel camera, a single-core 1GHz … Read more

Samsung's branding may spell success for Galaxy S III

Given all the attention that the Samsung Galaxy S III is garnering today, it's easy to overlook some of the finer points.

One detail that has been lost in the shuffle could have long-lasting implications for Android. It's not the 2GB RAM, although that does sound wonderful, and it's not the dual-core processor. Nope, it's not the universal launch date either. Instead, what's really significant is the singular design and branding for the Galaxy S III across all of the five U.S. carriers scheduled to carry it. Here's why.… Read more

Samsung Galaxy S III hits Sprint, T-Mobile on June 21

Samsung Electronics' latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, will arrive at Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA on June 21.

At Sprint, the highly anticipated smartphone will cost $199.99 for the 16GB version, and $249.99 for the 32GB version. AT&T will sell also sell a 16GB version for $199.99 but will pair it with a 16GB micro SD card for $238.99. T-Mobile also confirmed it would arrive on the same day, but didn't provide pricing information.

Verizon Wireless and AT&T said it would take pre-orders on June 6, but Verizon only … Read more

U.S. Cellular lays new prepaid plans on the table

U.S. Cellular is launching three new voice, text, and data plans today for a prepaid lineup that includes both Android smartphones and feature phones.

Both of the two new data plans include unlimited nationwide voice and messaging. Smartphone owners will get 2GB data for $65 per month, and feature phone users will get 1GB data for $50 per month. The third plan, which excludes data, offers 400 voice minutes, 400 text messages, and 400 picture messages for $35 a month.

Eligible Android smartphones include the Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Electrify, HTC Merge, Samsung Mesmerize, Huawei Ascend II, HTC Wildfire S, … Read more