First of all, let me preface this rant by stating that I have been with AT&T since 1994. At that time they were Bellsouth Mobility where I live. I have been a loyal customer. Recently, (for the past six months) the data coverage in my area has been in a steady state of decline. My bad coverage is only where I live, in Talladega, Alabama. As soon as I drive north six miles my coverage is fantastic. My dilemma is that I would like to be able to send and receive e-mail and have internet access in my home and not have to drive to get to it. I called AT&T to see what the problem could be and have discovered it. The tower space that used to be monopolized by AT&T has been reduced to one EDGE tower for my city which is surrounded by mountains. This one tower is intended to serve a small town of approximately 25,000. I really don't know if they have been outbid on towers or have outsold their capacity for my area, but I am tired of paying for something I am not getting. I have three Blackberries and an I-Phone on my family plan and a Blackberry on my company plan. Last night, after about seven calls to customer service over the past month, I finally got someone from AT&T to acknowledge that their coverage for my area was inadequate. I don't want to change carriers, but I am afraid that if AT&T doesn't step up to the plate and increase their coverage, I will be forced to seek another provider. Verizon has great coverage in my area now. I would like to know if any other rural AT&T customers are facing the same problems and what you have been able to accomplish by calling customer service.

It all depends on location. I do concur that Verizon probably has the best coverage in the outlying (rural) areas. However, in the parts of rural SC where our families live, both ATT and Verizon are adequate.

Smartass remark: "Move to civilization."

Actually, a tower being out of service could be the reason for declining coverage. AT&T might not be aware of it, or it could be way down the list of priority fixes for them. I'd call and complain, and do it more than once. Just not every day. Every 2 - 3 weeks would be ok. In the mean time, check into other carriers. Just don't trust the coverage maps. You have to talk to folks with actual mobiles and see what they say about coverage, dead spots, etc.

I can certainly chime in here... I live just north of Belvidere, Illinois... about 45min straight west of Chicago. I had a first generation iPhone right when they came out on the AT&T network and it was horrendous. I subsequently changed to a Curve (didn't really like the iPhone, not trying to start an iPhone debate here) and coverage was just marginally better.
Fast forward 1 1/2yrs, I recently had two buddies stay with me, both with the new
3Gs iPhone and as soon as they got to my house, neither one worked. AT&T still is no better. In fact, they let out of my contract because their service sucked so bad. They didn't "admit" it, but by letting me out of my contract, admitted it. So, I would suggest moving to a carrier that actually works where yuou need your cell phone.