The only reason why I am rating is because I am actually thinking about leaving Sprint to go to Verizon. With that being said let me begin my story (for all you who are like why the heck did he rate this a 4 out of 5). I recently moved to Arlington VA (Courthouse area) for work. I have a personal Blackberry Tour and a work Blackberry curve (on Verizon). I was excited to get the Verizon phone so that I could test out both networks and see which one was better. Moving from Kansas, my roommates blackberry tour was constantly faster with data and always had better reception. This caused me to rethink being on Sprint even though it is cheaper. Moving to Arlington I have changed my opinion, my Verizon phone drops calls more often than my Sprint phone, data is faster on my tour than on my curve, and Sprint is cheaper. Verizon definitely has better reception but like any phone, if you are on the metro chances are you are going in and out of service. Both my devices work at almost any station I have been at (mostly blue and orange lines). My final thought is that maybe the tour is just that superior to my curve and that is part of the issue (my tour is 2 years old and my curve is 2 months old so kind of odd). I will say I will never get a personal curve but have to use what the company gives me. The reasoning behind giving Sprint 4 out of 5 is that in my 2 months of being out in Arlington, Sprint has performed just as well as Verizon and is cheaper (I haven't dropped any calls on my family but have dropped calls with clients). Hope this helps.

Signal comes in and out. Usually 1 bar if it's a good day. A few blocks closer to the metro, Fairfax Dr., the signal is very good.

I consistently have 5 bars of signal strength and have no problems making or receiving calls.

I always get 5 bars of signal strength. Calls are clear and I never have any dropped calls--even while inside a building.

Awful. I have to leave the building to make a call. (But as soon as I leave the building, even on the patio, the wireless internet cuts out.)

This location (near Ft. Meyer and Sheffield Court) has always been bad. Several days now without service. Had the same problem with Sprint. Thank god I am moving next month, because this spot is just horrible!

Some parts of the mall I get 5 bars of reception where in other parts I get 0-1 bars of reception. That is unacceptable for a major metropolitan mall.

Constant problems due to poor antenna(s) placement or downtilts. Sorry, I use to work for Nextel years ago. Not much you can do other than to invest in a secondary phone (Tracfone or any of the other Pay as you go ones). I told the Nextel folks (if they bothered to listen... .) to have Micro Cells installed in dead spots and also the Metro tunnels. And it is 'doable'! NYS Empire Plaza has them in the concourses. Hope it helps if people keep posting their issues with coverage.

No reception on first floor condo. Sometimes can get reception if stand near window, but generally zero reception.

Lyon Village Apartments are hard on cell phones, which is too bad because of the free high-speed internet in the apartments and garden style layout making this a particularly good place to ditch the land line. Best reception is near windows; residents routinely use the courtyard.

There's almost no signal in the mall... especially not down in the food court. My mom and I couldn't have a conversation ("where are you?") from one end of the mall to the other.

Dead zone travel I-395 from DC into Arlington on the 14th St.Bridge. Nextel... please fix this problem

Nextel needs dramatic improvement on S. Washington Blvd.from Rt. 50 to Arlington Ridge Road.

Nextel needs to dramatically improve it's reception / transmission capability throughout Arlington County. Barton St.is very bad with zero reception if it's the least bit overcast from Pershing to Clarendon Blvd.

Cingular keeps dropping my calls (a few every day) and the bars are always jumping around. At times I have no reception even when other Cingular customers around me do. I've been constantly calling their tech support, but they have no clue whats going on. They have already replaced my pone once, now way that the Nokia 1100 may just be a bad model, so I should upgrade. If I wasn't in a contract, I'd leave - I recommend that no one joins Cingular - they have been useless. I've asked them to cancel my contract but they wont - if they don't provide me with service I shouldn't have to pay for it. Cingular really sucks !

I am receiving constant complaints that I cannot be heard on the other end of the line. Seldom if ever do I have problems hearing the other person, but seemingly on every other call I am told that I am breaking up. This is a relatively new development and the "number of bars" doesn't seem to be the problem. I also have a colleague with a similar model phone experienceing the same problem so I know it isn't a simply a defect in my phone. I have also updated my firmware and prl data so I am pretty much at a loss and extremely frustrated. Only a few months ago my calls were rock solid. What could have changed?

Great reception almost everywhere. Only issue is with voice mail access. When out of local area, the system will not allow me to access it. Very frustrating.

I get 4 "deceiving" bars of service most of the time, yet I have to dial 20 times or more to place a call and I usually give up. Each time it says "Connecting" then "Redialing" then "No Service Available" then "Entering Sprint Service Area" all in a few seconds. Very frustrating. Sometimes it works just fine, and then half way through a call it will stop working - either fading completely or the other person cannot hear me speak or hears digital noise.

I've lived in Pentagon City for 3 years now with AT&T. Signal goes from 5 bars to none without my phone moving from the coffee table, obviously this leads to multiple dropped calls everyday. 3G is VERY rare. I just bought the new iPhone and can't use 99% of the new features because they require 3G.

I switched to Verizon from AT&T because of Verizon's reputation for reliable signal strength. 2 months later I am paying to switch back to AT&T. In the neighborhood around the Washington Navy Yard I get no Verizon signal at all. In many DC and Arlington neighborhoods I get 2 bars and lots of dropped calls. It is the worst cell phone service I have ever experienced.