[NorCalJosh]

cingular originated down there and the coverage is quite widespread through out most of the south. in the upper midwest, its a little shaky, the west coast has improved by leaps and bounds. cant remember what coverage is like in the north east off the top of my head.

as for cingular dropping coverage... there are 4 or 5 different generations of sim chips floating around in cingular phones currently, ranging from the old 32k pac bell c hip to the newest 64k cingular chip. that would be the first thing to go into a store and check if you're getting terrible coverage, because that solves 9/10 reception problems.