You left out the part about Sprints data speeds kicking ass over the other guys.
I disagree with your assertion that you have the same coverage as VZW, it's good - but having had a kindle and a Sprint phone on test, I can say with certainty that Sprint didn't cover (with data) where I needed it. This was in August 2009.

We have 4G now...in lots of places (more coming soon). Philly has it...I havent seen a demo of it yet, but I hear its faster than cable. They JUST activated it in Seattle this week-I just left there on Friday....go figure.

Unfortunately the term GPS gets substituted for aGPS or navigation services far too often so people get a phone with a navigation service or aGPS and assume it has GPS. Then there are phones that are the same model but has a GPS on one carrier and not on another. The GSM version of my phone had a real GPS and my phone has only aGPS. I just upgraded to a new phone with a true GPS but needs the cell service to download maps. I've contacted Garmin asking when they will have software ready that can utilize my garmin maps

2 Real world experience between Verizon and AT&T.

A buddy (BB-verizon) and I (iPhone-at&t) climbed 4 Peaks about 40 miles north of Phoenix a couple weeks ago, it takes almost an hour of forest service road to get to the trailhead.

When we got to the top we pulled out our phones and he had service I did not. I made a call to my wife to tell her I was behind schedule.

Same two guys, same two phones in the grand canyon in October. At the 1.5 mile resthouse, (1.5 miles down into the canyon)he had service on verizon and I did not. He made a call and I sent a text.

So Verizon in this area kills AT&T on coverage.

Ouch. I just read this from the Associated Press.

NEW YORK - The Federal Communications Commission on Friday asked Verizon Wireless why it recently doubled the fees it charges customers when they break their contracts on "smart" phones.

In November, the carrier hiked the maximum early contract termination fee for smart phones to $350 from $175.

That increase was kind of ovious, you sign a contract to get a $600 phone, break the contract for $175, then eBay the phone for $500 and walk away with a nice profit. They are trying to cut that out.

+1 on verizon, been with ATT ever since it was bell south in 91, after years of dropped calls when they switched to digital and lost coverage when traveling I switched to Verizon and ATT's response of leaving after over 15 years of service was pretty much if you don't like it leave, so I did. Since being with Verizon the service has been near flawless, and I've had excellent service with them and the coverage has been far outstanding. I recently picked up the Droid from them and I am running it through tests right now, but so far it has almost everything I need to do on my laptop and can run off a power cord with no battery in the unit. I'm waiting for a non rainy day to test it on solar but with all the apps available for it and the awesome voice Google map GPS, it blows any GPS away. The draw back is there is no base map for the GPS so if you turn off the service in the options, the GPS works but you are navigating on a white grid. I'm trying to figure out if there is away to put a base map on it. Unfortunately I haven't seen a rugged smart phone I would replace my Garmin but as time goes forward I can see the inevitable. I can see a smart phone with a built in 406 locator and GPS that is military rugged, but I have a feeling it won't be in my lifetime but the capability exists now.

Usually "Assisted GPS" also means the ephemeris data is downloaded over the network instead of from the satellite itself. The ephemeris is data that tells the phone where the satellites are; that plus distance to the satellites tells the phone where it is. The satellite download is very low bandwidth and typically takes 45 seconds or more, so using the network saves time to first fix. On my phone, I can see the data connection every time I use the GPS.

This raises the question of whether an AGPS phone will get a fix without a network connection. Can it get the ephemeris data from the satellite as well as from the network? I'm not completely sure, but I suspect my N97 can't. I recently had a holiday in Ecuador, where I kept my phone offline to avoid roaming data charges, and I was never able to get a fix from its GPS. (I didn't care much because I also had a Garmin device, which worked fine.)

Other phones may vary. If you are relying on having phone GPS when the network is down, you should probably test it before hand.