The company also closely works with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in providing its customers with free AMBER alerts delivered through text messages.
U.S. Cellular is among the few telecom companies with the highest customer retention rates in comparison with its competitors, an observation made by several market research firms. Consumer Reports, a non-profit research organization that also conducts an annual survey of the products and services of wireless service providers in the United States, also agrees – its survey states that U.S. Cellular has the highest network satisfaction and call quality of any national carrier.
Furthermore, J. D. Power and Associates has rated U.S. Cellular as possessing the "Highest in Wireless Call Quality Performance" for numerous years especially in its North Central Region from 20016 to 2011. The North Central Region includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
U.S. Cellular originally used analog followed by Digital AMPS TDMA mobile phones in most of its markets. In 2003, it made a shift to 1xRTT CDMA technology and discontinued its all other services. By 2009, the company began converting its telecom network to EVDO thus allowing it to provide 3G speeds, which it continues to offer on national scale through roaming agreements with other carriers.
At present, U.S. Cellular is implementing the use of LTE for its advanced 4G network.