I'm looking at getting the Audiovox SMT5600 smartphone in the coming months (for phone, POP3 and Exchange e-mail access). Two GSM carriers that I am considering are Cingular and T-Mobile.

A few questions for those in the Puget Sound area who can give some hints... please also mention whether you are answering for T-Mobile or Cingular.

1) How is coverage around Puget Sound? Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue, etc?

2) Does coverage get sketchy or disappear in the mountains or as you get further away from the cities? (I currently have Verizon, which holds a signal pretty good even into the mountains.)

3) Given that no current smartphones (which is what I will be buying) have EDGE support, I'll be using GPRS for e-mail/web access. How is the performance in the Seattle area for this service - for example, if I have 1000 average e-mail messages (without attachments) to download/sync from my Exchange server, about how long does this take? Does accessing GPRS take the same toll on the battery as does a phone call?

Price-wise, the services are pretty similar - a $39.99 plan from each will net about the same per-month allowances, and unlimited internet/e-mail access is $39.99 on Cingular and $29.99 on T-Mobile. So, basically it appears to come down to service - whichever provides the better coverage/performance in the Puget Sound area.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

(I would have tried to post this on the howardforums.com site, but they aren't currently accepting new user registrations...)