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US Cellular announces intent to switch to tiered data, LTE still on track for November
Oh, how the mighty fall one by one. US Cellular, in its Q2 earnings call, stunned the mobile world by announcing that it expects to follow the lead of Verizon and AT&T by moving to a tiered data pricing structure within the next two to three quarters. No details were given on pricing or data limits, though it's quite possible the particulars are getting fleshed out as we speak. The regional carrier also indicated that its 4G rollout is still on track for November, with one LTE-compatible smartphone scheduled to launch at roughly the same time. Is it a coincidence that the new data pricing scheme would become effective within a similar timeframe? Hard to say, but we're continuously reminded on all fronts that the era of all-you-can-eat data is quickly coming to a depressing close; it looks like we won the battle for faster mobile broadband, but it didn't come without a fair amount of bloodshed.
HTC Merge makes an official landing at US Cellular May 31 for $250
If we could bet on phone launches the same way we put money down on horse races or slot machines, we'd lose our shirts on the HTC Merge. Like a ghost, this elusive Android smartphone has an innate ability to pop up from out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. Over the last few months we've seen this repeated multiple times on both Verizon's and US Cellular's ends -- until yesterday, that is, when the latter finally ended its part of the charade by announcing a launch date. Taking on Facebook, the regional carrier officially committed the Merge to a May 31st launch, selling for $250 with contract before $100 rebate. Oddly, the date won't matter much since store reps have the go-ahead to sell it as soon as it's in stock (according to the screenshot below), and the Facebook post reveals that shipments should begin arriving as early as today. If you've been wanting a Merge and are up to the task, we invite you -- nay, we challenge you -- to go to your local store this morning and see if your rep got the memo. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
