I've said it before, and I'll say it again... "Your Mileage WILL Vary", not may vary, WILL vary. I personally have use at&t since they were AT&T then through Cingular/cingular and I love the service. I travel a lot, and only have two dead spots, my home and my uncle's farm (and the basement of my school, but no one has signal there unless they are analog). My house is on an island, filled with hippies, who refuse to allow cell towers. Sprint has some they have integrated into power poles, but there are few other towers in my area. I can get signal from the mainland, or another island, but by the time you get to my house you have mayber one or two bars, and they go in and out all the time.
At my uncle's farm, I can see the tower, but it is an old farm house, with very thick walls, a metal superstructure (to hold it up), aluminum siding, and some exposed wiring, I step outside, 5 bars.
I've driven extensivly between Seattle and Detroit and the only hickup I've ever had is a 20 mile strech in North Dakota where I loose signal, the continental divide on I-90 (or the western crest of the continental divide on I-80), the blue mountains (Oregon), or about 10 miles in Wisconsin. The only other problem is my clock not updating while in Mountain Time on I-90/94 (mainly due to not being on at&t's network there). I've used T-Mobile (while Voice Stream) and I work with people who use Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon, more often than not, I get signal when they don't.
So before you go bashing at&t, remember that every experience is different, and regardless of the provider you shouldn't be able to use your phone on a subway (giant metal tube, passing through a metallicly structured concrete tube, underground; T-Mobile must be transmitting underground).
TEG
