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As for reliability, I've been on both Cingular and Verizon and as a consumer I can't tell the difference. If anything Cingular has been more reliable. A coworker was just complaining Friday that Verizon has sucked in East Lansing lately. So if they are supposed to be more reliable, no one can tell.
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Stuff and nonsense. Claiming a nihilist position re evaluating cell coverage just means blind belief in anecdotes. You can look at coverage maps, you can read news articles, and you can take in consumer surveys. The Cingular / AT&T network pales compared to competitors. Look at the full page ads and TV spots Sprint is running to show how poor the Cingular data plan is.
Independent surveys, eg by Consumer Reports, show far, far more dropped calls by Cingular. Verizon has one of the most built-out networks in the country.
Anecdotally I do observe that Verizon is weak in East Lansing during peak times, and especially for some reason at the corner of Hagadorn and GR. My guess is a tower switch occurs there.
A good friend is a Cingular customer who travels the state daily and the world frequently. Cingular drops out all the time when he leaves major metro areas even though still on an Interstate.
Press coverage disses Apple for choosing Cingular / AT&T's inferior 300 kbps Edge network for data, versus true 3G from other carriers, ie EV-DO.
Steve Jobs claims that the phone's Wi-Fi capabilitiy outweighs that. That's a bunch of bull. Apple made the best business deal they could, not the best network deal they could offer customers. Wi-Fi is even sparser than Cingular's footprint.
Apple wanted to make a unique arrangement where they are the front office for buying the phone and service, and the provider is just the back office providing signal. See Friday's NY Times. The top providers didn't see $$$ in such a deal so Apple went with the market trailer.
Apple may have made the best cell phone on the planet, but they chose to partner with one of the worst cell providers in the US.