Network Coverage:  

AT&T boasts the best mobile broadband global coverage and we can’t argue with that. Their GSM network and relationships with carriers worldwide make them the best bet if you need international data access. Inside the U.S., however, they take a back seat to both Sprint and Verizon Wireless. Certainly AT&T has a true nationwide footprint and it’s growing…they cover most people most of the time. To make sure that you’ll be covered where you live, work or travel, consult their coverage map.

Data Network Reliability:  

Network reliability is improving across the all of the major wireless carriers and AT&T can generally be counted on to be there when you need it. Nonetheless, there have been some notable short term outages recently. AT&T suffered rather brief by widespread outages covering much of the east coast in September and December 2008 and again in January 2009. Users in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana experienced outages on a couple of occasions in February. These service interruptions have been resolved rather quickly but when you’re competing to be the best, details matter. Verizon Wireless and Sprint surpass AT&T in this category by a narrow margin.

Help/Support:  

The good news is that customer service throughout the wireless industry is seen as improving by the majority of customers. AT&T, however, is widely perceived to be in the middle of the pack in this area. That conclusion is based on the most recent reports from both J.D. Power and Associates and from Consumer Reports. Our tests, though of smaller magnitude than those two huge surveys, further confirmed those results.

AT&T is a terrific option for wireless broadband users. It’s selection of smartphones is particularly good and its worldwide availability is a huge advantage for international users…but be very careful of the charges if you need it in other countries. They can be as much as 40 times the already outrageous data overage charges. But if it’s worth it to you, it may be the only game in town. Check out our Smartphones Review site for objective ratings of AT&T mobile devices as well as those of their competitors.