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Good to see the network growing! Looking at US Cellular's coverage map (https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.html https://www.uscellular.

Good to see the network growing! Looking at US Cellular's coverage map (https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.html 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.

surge 10y ago
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.
- narrowrail 10y ago
  >It'll be good for truly last mile users Who isn't a last mile user?
  - _acme 10y ago
    I think what is meant by a non-last mile user is someone who tends to stay in cities and suburbs, and rarely, if ever, ventures into rural areas, where cell phone service is still often non-existent or limited to one carrier that may or may not have a roaming agreement with your own carrier.
- eitally 10y ago
  Fi is great in the SFBA because, even though all the major players operate here, none of them have comprehensively high quality service without significant dead spots.
kyrra 10y ago
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.
- dcrall 10y ago
  Agreed. This is interesting in the midwest. To date we've stuck with Verizon to have both nation-wide coverage and coverage in rural Iowa. It looks like we could save significant money by switching.
yompers888 10y ago
Yeah, this is pretty exciting for me. I've been using Fi since Republic became nearly unusable about nine months back. I have a 50-something hour drive coming up later this month, and before this happened I was planning on buying a month of Verizon prepaid so I could call people while I drove. Now I should be able to avoid all the inconvenience of having a different number for a month!

surge 10y ago

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.

narrowrail 10y ago
>It'll be good for truly last mile users Who isn't a last mile user?
- _acme 10y ago
  I think what is meant by a non-last mile user is someone who tends to stay in cities and suburbs, and rarely, if ever, ventures into rural areas, where cell phone service is still often non-existent or limited to one carrier that may or may not have a roaming agreement with your own carrier.
eitally 10y ago
Fi is great in the SFBA because, even though all the major players operate here, none of them have comprehensively high quality service without significant dead spots.

kyrra 10y ago

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.

dcrall 10y ago
Agreed. This is interesting in the midwest. To date we've stuck with Verizon to have both nation-wide coverage and coverage in rural Iowa. It looks like we could save significant money by switching.

yompers888 10y ago

Yeah, this is pretty exciting for me. I've been using Fi since Republic became nearly unusable about nine months back. I have a 50-something hour drive coming up later this month, and before this happened I was planning on buying a month of Verizon prepaid so I could call people while I drove. Now I should be able to avoid all the inconvenience of having a different number for a month!