U.S. Cellular Customers Forced To Buy New Phones In Merge With Sprint

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 26, 2013 6:00PM

The Tribune reports over a half-million U.S. Cellular customers must buy new phones once the company completes its sale of its assets in Chicago, St. Louis and Central Illinois to Sprint Nextel Corp. The deal was announced last November and U.S. Cellular will retain its corporate headquarters in Chicago as well as its naming rights agreement with the White Sox for U.S. Cellular Field, even though it no longer will have a market presence in Chicago.

Representatives for both Sprint and U.S. Cellular told the Tribune they’re working to make the transition smooth for customers. Once the deal is complete in a few weeks, U.S. Cellular customers have the option of moving to Sprint or looking for another cellular provider. U.S. Cellular customers affected by the deal have started to receive letters detailing the transition to Sprint and the need to buy new phones.

Reps for both companies said even phones sold by both providers, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, won’t work between the carriers. U.S. Cellular executive vice president of marketing Dave Kimbell said it’s a hardware issue.

Foundationally, each carrier has different spectrum holdings, so what makes the phone work is the number and type of antennas that go into the phone.

The letters have come as a surprise to U.S. Cellular customers who missed the original announcement last year and they’ve voiced their complaints on the carrier’s Facebook page.