Which wireless carrier has the best coverage where you're going?

If you’d like a more honest assessment of whether AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless – or none of the above – will offer decent connectivity, you should seek an outside opinion instead of consulting the carriers' coverage maps. Some resources to do so are:

• Apps like Ookla's Speedtest can benchmark a wireless carrier’s performance.
• T-Mobile's test-drive option can let you test coverage firsthand.
• Drive testing provided by RootMetrics has provided one such source of ground truth; visit its coverage map to see its color-coded ratings of the fastest speeds and best technology for each carrier in a given area.
• The Federal Communications Commission's recent map of LTE coverage allows you to set the map to display calculated data or voice performance from any of the big three (plus the regional carrier US Cellular) or show only one company’s coverage.