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Ask for the Map
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We've been writing about our frustration with finding a signal, and the even more frustrating prospect of selecting a new phone, and maybe a new carrier, only to discover - after your two week trial, that you don't have a good or consistent signal everywhere you need one. We've written about T-Mobile's online service and Cingular's limited in-store kiosks that allow you to get the carrier's opinion of the signal strength they supply at the street address level. Anecdotal evidence suggests that not everyone's exiperience aggrees with the carrier's engineering plans.
It turns out that you can see these same street-level coverage map details, hard copy usually, at any carrier's store. You'll probably have to beg, threaten or start to walk out though, before the salesperson will admit you to those inner secrets.
So, ask for the map, and discuss the sensitivity of that new phone your buying, and demand at least a two-week trial before the contract's cancellation policy kicks in.
Maybe next decade Wi-Max and VOIP will save the day - if the infrastructure can be built out less expensively and more quickly - and thus more coverage - than 3G.
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