Ok I confess, I was a Sprint dealer for several years. Did major service and had three cell phone stores with repairs.
What service phone do you think I always traveled with in those years? I had been a Verizon service dealer prior but do to the FCC selling my spectrum I needed to switch to Sprint/Nextel to survive as a business.
But alas, Sprint decided to do their own thing in Kiosks etc and my Sprint portion faded away, fortunately.
And now I am once again out of the closet.
Verizon coverage in the rural areas I traveled to for business and pleasure was better in all but a very few locations.
I had some of the very first cell phone amps in my RV. I had antennas on poles where I frequently camped.
Verizon, hands down gave better coverage.
In todays world the gap has closed quite a bit and if you do not need those critical places then price may be your better deal.
So, history shows that Verizon was well ahead of the competition as they/ Sprint/Nextel acquired/stole spectrum and grew rapidly.
The competition has been a great thing and kept Verizon on its toes. They are a bit pricey but sometimes you want that Cadillac or Benz and not the other models.