Verizon, of course, has the broadest reach of the wireless companies, with 106 million subscribers; AT&T comes in second with 95.5 million customers, and Sprint brings up the rear with 51 million customers. Before deciding which carrier offers the best service, you'll want to look at their coverage maps: You can see them at , , and respective websites.

But as , there's no experience like real-world experience: You might want to ask your neighbors which carrier they're using, and what kind of service they get. And you might check out services like the , which crowdsources the process of testing neighborhood wireless coverage to create maps of which carriers perform best, and where.

Each carrier has advantages--both tangible and less so--that we haven't quantified here. For example, AT&T offers and . Verizon, on the other hand, has tended to score the highest in customer satisfaction among wireless carriers. Sprint, as the newcomer, has the most to prove on the iPhone front--but that unlimited data plan may give it a leg up in the market.

Because the charges, coverage, and other qualities of each carrier varies, the iPhone operator you choose might be different from your chattier coworker who lives 10 miles away and has a larger family--and you'd both be right.