"Has T-mobile dropped the ball for you with poor area coverage, signal strength?"

No. I have had much worse experience with AT&T. I was not able to make or receive phone calls with AT&T inside my home in Santa Clara. No phone with AT&T SIM card was able to connect to the network inside. With T-Mobile SIM I can speak inside, although the reception is not the best possible...

I think the bottom line is that in U.S. all operators have spotty coverage and the problematic spots are different for all operators. (for me the weak spot of T-Mobile network is coverage in remote locations - like national parks - where AT&T seems to have edge over T-Mobile)

Hartti