Coverage varies too widely by location to give a meaningful general
recommendation.

Johnny,

Don't!!!  Don't switch to T-Mobile that is.  Big mistake! I lived in San
Diego for many years and like you I had Sprint.  Additionally, I travel
throughout the entire United States and found Sprint to be OK in coverage.
Just OK,  there were many areas of very poor or absolutely no service.  Two
years ago, I moved from San Diego to Orange County and kept Sprint.  Again,
the coverage was acceptable but not great.  I was not able to get a signal
in my home and had to go outside to use my cell phone.

About 6 months ago, I switched providers.  I was lured by T-Mobile and their
cheap prices.  Yes their prices were cheap but after 4 or 5 days, I returned
my phones and cancelled service.  T-Mobile was terrible compared to Sprint.
Cheap isn't the word,  the service could be free and I would turn T-Mobile
down.

After that debaucle, I switched to Verizon.  I am paying almost twice what I
was paying on my old "grand-fathered" plan from Sprint but I have great
service throughout the entire United States.  I go to some pretty obscure
places but have found the service to be great in most of the areas that I
travel to.  Yes, there are areas of no signal but they are few and far
between.  I even get a great signal in my home sitting at my desk.

Some people on this newsgroup complain about the lack of new phones offered
by Verizon.  Yes, Sprint and T-Mobile offer many more phones but a phone is
worthless unless you have a good signal.

Bruce D. Brown

I was in San Diego about a month ago and had excellent reception with
Verizon.

Dave

My younger brother lives in San Diego and had Sprint for years. He said it
was OK, but not great coverage. He switched to Verizon on an Audiovox(?)
8900 and likes the call quality and coverage down there.

Gregg Hill

I live in the OC and drive through SD regularly.  I've never had a
reception problem until just recently; there is a dead spot in my new
office building centered around my desk. :( As soon as I walk down the
hallway to the coffee pot, my voice mail indicator comes on. ;)

In urban Southern California, EVERY cellphone provider, even NexTel,
provides excellent coverage.

It's very hard to beat a Cingular NATION plan costwise ($39.95 for 1,000
rollover minutes with no roaming charges) and hard to beat a Cingular
NATION+GAIT plan (hard to get in SoCal) for coverage.

Look at the maps for the various cellphone providers and compare that to
where you travel.  If they are in the big metropolitan/urban areas,
chances are most every cellphone provider will give you adequate coverage
in 2004.

Overall, for the most coverage, it is extremely hard to beat Verizon with
a CMDA+AMPS phone, but you pay for that.  ATTWS or Cingular with a GAIT
phone comes second.

Are you roaming onto AMPS much?  If not (i.e., you are exclusively on
CDMA), then Cingular NATION is very cost effective with good coverage, but
again you need to check where you travel.

For example, a lot of rural areas (e.g., rural Nevada, Oregan, Kansas)
have non-existant GSM coverage which would be a big deal with a GSM only
phone.

In urban Southern California, EVERY cellphone provider, even NexTel,
provides excellent coverage.

It's very hard to beat a Cingular NATION plan costwise ($39.95 for 1,000
rollover minutes with no roaming charges) and hard to beat a Cingular
NATION+GAIT plan (hard to get in SoCal) for coverage.

Look at the maps for the various cellphone providers and compare that to
where you travel.  If they are in the big metropolitan/urban areas,
chances are most every cellphone provider will give you adequate coverage
in 2004.

Overall, for the most coverage, it is extremely hard to beat Verizon with
a CMDA+AMPS phone, but you pay for that.  ATTWS or Cingular with a GAIT
phone comes second.

Are you roaming onto AMPS much?  If not (i.e., you are exclusively on
CDMA), then Cingular NATION is very cost effective with good coverage, but
again you need to check where you travel.

For example, a lot of rural areas (e.g., rural Nevada, Oregan, Kansas)
have non-existant GSM coverage which would be a big deal with a GSM only
phone.