This is exactly right. Verizon has put 5x the capital into infrastructure vs. AT&T when you look at fiber and 3G/4G. AT&T would rather lobby, and sue their competitors then match their network point-for-point. AT&T recently talked about investing $1+ billion to upgrade their 3G/4G network after the outcry of dropped calls, but this was after Verizon had been sinking 3 Billion PER YEAR leading up to 2010.
http://consumerist.com/2009/11/verizons-response-to-atts-lawsuit-the-truth-hurts.html
I hate AT&T, years ago I called to cancel my service… 8 months later, I found out they had continued to bill me (yeah kinda my fault for not checking my cc billing) and they refused any renumeration. So I’m with Sprint at $30/month with unlimited text, data, 500 mins, unlimited mobile to mobile, free after 6pm and weekends, and a finger in the air for AT&T and any affiliates (apple).
For the most part, I mistrust most of the mobile carriers equally. I also happen to live in an area where AT&T service isn’t much worse than any of the other carriers, so I’m somewhat ambivalent towards them compared to the others. The other thing that helps them is that I really don’t make many calls on my iPhone, instead using their service almost exclusively for the data.
That said, I’d like for the iPhone to be available on other carriers, but I do wonder how many of them would really support the phone when Apple would refuse to allow them to make the number of changes they seem to do on their other phones.