John, IMO they all kinda suck. You could have a $400 phone or a $50 phone...IMO no signal is no signal. I had sprint dumped that after a few years for cingular only because of their "family plan" and sharing min between 3 phones. This has saved me some bucks as I haven't had to pay for extra minutes. Salty is in the business and he likes verizon but a fishing guide buddy has one with a high end phone and he says the coverage is pretty much the same as the others. Nextel has this kewl walkie-talkie feature which does not add to your minutes and goes a loooong way and a lot of guys love it. But the cell coverage is no better then some of the others. I would suggest you look at thier web sites really carefully, compare coverage, features and plans and pick the best one for you. It will still suck at times but at least you will be paying less for it.
good luck