Remember those ads for Verizon Wireless in which the guy walks around talking into his cell phone and asking the person at the other side, "Can you hear me now? Good." is not too far from the truth.
There is a story about a reporter riding in a car with a Verizon Wireless employee to test signal quality. The car has about $250,000 worth of equipment to test Verizon Wireless' signal as well as those for competition.