Thinking about taking the plunge and getting the new iphone. I'm outside my contract so I can move anywhere, but don't know about the data speeds and dropped call issues with the 3 carriers and guys with smartphones.

How are:
Sprint call drops and data speed?

ATT call drops and data speed?

Verizon call drops and data speed?

I get mixed messages about all of them, just looking for some pro/cons for the companies and their networks.

I have the iPhone on AT&T, it drops calls from time to time, but it's not too bad. Usually only does when I have really poor service in the middle of nowhere or I am in Newark, but the latter has gotten better over the last year or so.

I just ran a speed test on my phone and it scored as follows:

Ping: 115ms.
Download: 2.85mbps
Upload: 1.56mbps

Very few issues with Verizon. Not many dropped calls and usually pretty quick interweb connection.

Speed test says:

Ping - 97ms
Download - 13.27Mbps
Upload - 3.49Mbps

The 4GLTE network is pretty ballin' but sucks down battery like there's no tomorrow.

Here is a good breakdown on the 4s.

Apple iPhone 4S: The Good, Bad, and Unknown | PCWorld

What PCworld says is: Forget 4G but 3G speeds on both Verizon and AT&T are souped up with the 4s. Not so on sprint, different type of 3G network.

ATT data sucks at airports, cuz data has lower priority over voice. I'm looking to switch.

I have the ATT iPhone and I drop calls all the time. And for some odd reason never have cell service in the alley of most airports. Small alley no big deal, but at a decent size airport ie ATL, JFK etc. Zero reception !!! Pain in the rear when i am trying to pull up radar.

I heard Verizon is the way to go. But is more money....

Good luck

I got an iPhone4 from verizon after a month from when it first came available. I've been happy with it, but data rates are not as good as AT&T. I tried to run speed test this morning, but was getting dialup speeds. The iPhone has been easy to use, rarely dropping calls, and is great with unlimited data. (verizon)

Unlimited data would be a big selling point for me since nexflix and pandora hog a lot of data. Just my 2 cents.

Dial-up would better than what I usually get with ATT at airports...timeouts.

That unlimited data plan is thing of the past, unless you were grandfathered in by your current contract:

Verizon's New Tiered Data Plans

I used to have the same problem at airports and in the alleys. If you have Wifi always enabled (like I do), my phone would always try to get on Wifi instead of the 3/4g network. There are always plenty of Wfi networks around and it would trump the 3/4g to get on Wifi. It would even detect the inflight go go network even though it won't work below 10K. The phone would connect to the Wifi but not be able to use it because most of the networks required a sign in that I wasn't completing. I found that if I disable Wifi when at an airport, the phone would go immediately to 3/4g and voila! plenty of radar! (and everything else as well). That solved my "airport" issues in the alley. You can always turn on Wifi at the airport if it has an open network you want to use. I found most of them won't reach the cockpit. Give it a try. For the OP, I have a HTC Inspire with ATT and have not had any problems and rarely a dropped call. Been very happy and good data speeds.