[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]I dare you to be an AT&T customer for 1 month.[/citation]
I've been an AT&T customer from the Cellular One days (somewhere around 1989 or 1990). I experience similar service to any major carrier. Everyone knows that Verizon has a slightly larger coverage area, but I'm not a rural user, so it is very, very rarely relevant. Once (mind you I'm talking about a >20 year period), a few years ago, I had problems in NYC with overloaded data service (soon after the iPhone release), and AT&T promptly refunded me 50% of my data plan for the month. In general, AT&T is quite responsive to any complaint or request I have (I get adjustments to my bill whenever I ask).
Beleive me, I'm no huge AT&T fan or something (I'm amazed by the craze with which people favor or unfavor something so minor in the big picture of their life as a cell phone carrier), but I know, when comparing to my wife's Verizon plan (which she pays, on average, 20%-25% more for) I get the same service.
Overall, I find this breakdown of AT&T flamers: 50% never had the service (and maybe have such empty lives that they need a villain to bash?), 49% have only ever (or have had no choice but to have) AT&T service and have nothing to compare it to, 1% had a bad, but common, experience, and have yet to have that experience with their (recently) new carrier.