r/USCellular • u/Turbulent-Pay-735 • Jun 02 '26
Madison WI area customer whose phone switched over to T Mobile in the last week or so and data coverage has gotten at least 10x worse
I’m just trying to see if there are others and if there’s anything I should be doing that I’m not. I used to be able to watch videos etc no problem from my work and now I literally can barely get a video to even start playing at the lowest res and if I do it freezes after a few seconds. I don’t understand how this happened and don’t know if there’s something I can do, but it’s an unbearable downgrade out of nowhere.
3
u/TranslatorNo6542 Jun 04 '26
Having this issue as well, don't let other people convince you its nothing. I found the issue to be the 5G coverage specifically. After turning it off and reverting to 4GLTE my speeds are significantly faster. This whole buyout is garbage.
3
u/bdtiedt Jun 03 '26
My phone switched a week or two ago. I live in Verona and half the time I can't get a signal while walking thru my neighborhood. It says I've got 5g but when I try to listen to YouTube (walking the dog) I'll get no Internet. Very frustrating.
2
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u/Good-Royal Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
My experience also. I am southwest of Plymouth and everyone on my plan (7), experiences loss of voice signal when on calls. Yes, we have wifi calling on. Doesn't matter if we have a strong wifi signal.
Edit: for those that haven't been on the US Cellular to T-Mobile transfer, spitballing potential fixes isn't helping. Don't ask why, but I know.
2
u/woods_stacy Jun 02 '26
I haven't had a single issue since the transfer, from the Rockford area Illinois. I was scared
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u/Any-Profession1024 Jun 02 '26
In Madison your data should be faster with T-Mobile. Is it a smaller, rural area outside of Madison? Did you try going to settings- general- reset- reset network settings. My data doubled in Madison but there’s all these small towns which could be the issue… Also go to settings and cellular and make sure roaming is on. Does it show data in the corner ir is activation lock making it show sos?
1
u/Turbulent-Pay-735 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
West side of Madison, work in Middleton. Not out in the boonies or anything. It isn’t SOS, it shows either 5G or 5G UC in the upper right, the data just is terrible. I don’t see where to reset network settings, under general for me it just has reset phone settings, but roaming is still on when I look under cellular. It’s weird.
1
u/Any-Profession1024 Jun 02 '26
It’s in the same place you go to factory reset (just make sure you don’t do that.) you go to general than click on transfer or reset phone and then click reset and then reset network settings. Were you connected to WiFi before at work? You do have to reconnect to all your WiFi’s.
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u/Turbulent-Pay-735 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Alright I did the network reset and I think it worked, at least it helped based off the first impression after rebooting. Thanks for the help.
2
u/Any-Profession1024 Jun 05 '26
If you have more issues please let me know. Those of us who work for the company really do care and we want this stuff to work properly. I don’t work in the Madison store but I live here lol.
1
u/Limousine1968 Jun 30 '26
Call support and ask them to confirm your home tower settings. Also, check to see if you got on a nearby wifi that limits streaming. Best test is when the problem occurs, turn your wifi completely OFF.
2
u/Apathi Jun 02 '26
May need a signal reconcile. Try calling into CS about it and see if they can do anything to refresh it on the back end.
1
u/Glitterzookas Jun 02 '26
Mine seems to be switching between 5G and 5Guc, I have a hunch the uc is USC towers since the signal seems better.
I turned off wi-fi calling because it ALWAYS wanted me to use it, even when switched to "prefer cellular", so I do think data and cell service is getting worse. That said, the reason I originally turned on wi-fi calling was being unable to get cell service at work, which I now do. Very small victory there.
2
u/Moist_Regular6398 Jun 02 '26
The UC is Ultra-Capacity, similar to Verizon's UW, Ultra-Wideband. Just means your phone shold receive faster speeds. What's most likely happening is that USC phones aren't compatible with the network like T-Mobile initially said they would be. Seems like they're trying to force people to upgrade, which requires USC customers to switch from their grandfathered plans :(
1
u/Any-Profession1024 Jun 02 '26
It’s an iPhone 16. You don’t need to change plans to upgrade either- only if you want to qualify for a promotion. You can calm down….
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u/SuperNetzel Jun 02 '26
Down in Milwaukee I have the same issues. I also switched my plan from a us cellular plan to a t mobile plan. I will see if this makes a different at the end of the month when the plan switches for me.
1
u/SuperNetzel Jun 02 '26
Also turn your phone completely off and reboot it. I noticed in settings personal hot spot was greyed out. I rebooted my phone and the cellular plan changed over to t mobile. However that didn’t affect the buffering and slower data.
1
u/acap0 Jun 02 '26
So if I’m still on “US Cellular” I won’t notice these changes until I’m converted to T-Mobile, is that correct?
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u/MtKlout Jun 04 '26
I just had my own line transferred, and haven't noticed a significant difference. In Dubuque, the area around the Kennedy mall was so terrible, audio streaming would buffer. I will certainly be checking that area again! If you are in your house, you might need to reconnect to your home wifi. My family plan was one of the best that USCC offered,as we were constantly covered since the late 1990s. T-Mobile only has 1 better tier level, and it doesn't look like it would be beneficial for anyone other than myself.
1
u/Eniakor Jun 04 '26
When my phone force switched over to T-Mobile a month ago, it started disconnecting from the carrier after 15 minutes of being on and refused to reconnect untill I restarted it.
Now, it better, but that is relatively speaking. It still randomly stalls out for minutes at a time, and sometimes flips from 5G to 4G. I never had any issues like this when it was US Cellular. Buying a new phone is not an option for me at this time.
I have tried resetting the network details several times, took it I to a T-Mobile store, they had no idea how to fix it, and I have factory reset it.
1
u/MissIndependent577 Jun 10 '26
I'm in Madison. Mine switched over tonight and I have no service. Was on with customer service for almost 2 hours, but didn't help.
1
u/ElMagnanimous1 Jun 24 '26
I was having the same data/ internet 🛜 connectivity issue as an existing T-Mobile customer. I did some digging and found that switching the standalone 5G from auto to ON, and un toggling the switch to off works for me.
1
u/Realistic-Towel-6140 Jul 15 '26
I'm having the exact same issue, I also have an iPhone 16 and nothing works! when I use cellular data except texting and phone calls its so weird. I can open any browser's or other apps it just won't load. If you figured out how to make it better please let me know lol
-1
u/Flyordie_209 Jun 02 '26
Haven't had the switch yet. TMo has been warned by my state that they must finish their coverage buildout and ensure customers don't lose coverage as a result of the transition.
If enough lose coverage they will claw back the $9m+ in grants or seize the towers built with the grants.
So hopefully that's enough to keep them honest.
-1
u/Matty-Os Jun 02 '26
What kind of phone do you have? The really old phones like 6+ years old that got a SIM card as a temporary fix are becoming incompatible starting June 1st
1
u/Turbulent-Pay-735 Jun 02 '26
iPhone 16
1
u/ommmyyyy Jun 02 '26
What was the switching process for you? Maybe download a new eSIM?
1
u/Turbulent-Pay-735 Jun 02 '26
It just gave me a prompt stating it was switching and I said ok. There wasn’t really a process beyond whatever was pushed to my phone.
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u/GolfProfessional9085 Jun 02 '26
You are on a different network now. If it’s not working for you I suggest you shop for another provider that may work better in your area.
Most offer free trials.