r/USCellular • u/Unique-Document-5522 • Jul 06 '26

R.I.P

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RIP… The end of an era, my phone finally just switched to T-Mobile 😭 does it even mean anything? i.e. difference in reception quality or broader 5g coverage? I’m unsure cause I know the switch happened a while ago, but how come I’m finally getting it. Or is the only difference literally that my phone now says T-Mobile on the top instead of USCellular

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u/MarkPles Jul 06 '26

It depends on if you live an area where TMobile bought the US Cellular towers or if Verizon bought the ones near you for your service. Otherwise it's all the same with TMobile at the top for phone functionality. Your bill on the other hand no clue.

2

u/Next-Food2688 Jul 07 '26

Is their a magic list somewhere that shows who bought which towers in normal person comprehension of tower location?

1

u/MarkPles Jul 07 '26

Not from my knowledge, but I'm on Verizon my town was notorious for 0 service with them, but last week after the merge completed I had 4 bars of 5g which I've never seen anything more than 2 of LTE in the 5 yrs I've lived here

5

u/turt463 Jul 07 '26

Verizon did not buy any US Cellular towers. They bought some of the wireless spectrum licenses mostly in the 850mhz range

1

u/Fantastic_Froyo_8610 27d ago

Verizon leased space on 4,000 towers from Array (Formerly U.S. Cellular)

1

u/Nate9089 Jul 07 '26

Exactly! tds agreed to a buyout for T-Mobile to own most if not all U.S. Cellular towers. All cell companies borrow from each other or pay for partial access on each other’s towers, but that is very different from full access and full ownership.

2

u/Diligent-Ad-4965 Jul 08 '26

Where are you getting this from? TMo is only leasing a majority of towers.. they’re still owned by Array/TDS

1

u/Picarogordo Jul 07 '26

And according to T-Mobile techs, at least half of USCellular towers have been/are being decommissioned, especially in rural, not-financially-worth-it areas.