I have been with VZW almost that long, but I tripped thru the tulips with U.S. West, Sprint ( before it was called that ), Voice Stream ( before someone bought them ), AT&T ( before it was called that ), and a couple of others.
Cricket did not exist in anyone's eyes at those times.
I just kept looking for a carrier, any carrier, that would give me coverage in the rural areas, inside my office buildings, and inside my home..... no matter which one I chose, it seemed they all had severe drop outs.... and this was when a flip phone still had not even arrived yet....
my first phone had a handle on the top of it, and weighed something like 10 lbs??
I would just leave it in the car, and hook the ringer up to the car's horn... good enough for the day.
anyway, U.S. West almost made the grade out in Arizona, but out of Arizona???? forgedabootit.... their roaming contracts were almost none existent.
so, then I got hired by the City of Phoenix and they were with Verizon.... what? a cellphone that works inside an office? count me in, and I never looked back. as a government employee, I got a 15% discount on my service for 20 years.... sadly, they took that away two years after I retired.
