T-Mobile customers are suddenly finding their phones work better in places where coverage used to be spotty or nonexistent. The reason? The wireless carrier has officially completed its purchase of UScellular, and the benefits are already showing up on customer phones.

According to PhoneArena, T-Mobile customers are now enjoying improved coverage thanks to better roaming access to UScellular’s network infrastructure. This is especially good news if you travel through rural areas where T-Mobile’s own towers might be sparse.

Here’s what happened: UScellular specialized in covering rural and remote areas that bigger carriers often skip. While UScellular had roaming deals with many other wireless companies, T-Mobile was notably absent from that list. T-Mobile customers couldn’t use UScellular towers even when they were in dead zones, but that restriction is now gone.

The deal brought 4 million UScellular customers into T-Mobile’s family, but existing T-Mobile customers are the real winners here. You can now roam on UScellular’s rural towers without paying extra roaming fees – something that wasn’t possible before the merger.

This is just the beginning. T-Mobile says the two networks will be fully combined over the coming months, which should create an even better experience for everyone. Right now, you’re essentially getting access to two separate networks, but soon they’ll work as one unified system.

The big question mark is whether T-Mobile will keep UScellular’s roaming agreements with other small rural carriers, though the company isn’t legally required to honor those deals.

Source: PhoneArena