Two weeks with an AT&T iPhone, following 10 days with a Verizon iPhone, and various observations:

1. I was more impressed with Verizon’s coverage than I am with AT&T’s. I dropped my Virgin 4G because their coverage—the same as Sprint’s—was only 4G in the places where I’m reasonably assured of having good wifi. Atlantic City is the key place I’ve needed fast Internet service, and both Verizon and AT&T step up to the plate. But AT&T data has dropped repeatedly in places where Verizon was fine.

2. That said, I prefer having data during a phone call, and that means AT&T is the clear winner here, as Verizon still cuts off data whenever the phone rings. That’s a flaw in the iPhone, which doesn’t yet have the circuitry to support Verizon data and calls simultaneously.

3. For CES, I’m traveling with both an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon Mifi, and I’m already glad to have both. AT&T drops in both the restaurant here and my hotel room at the Quad, Verizon is nicely supporting me.

4. I’m convinced that AT&T icons on the iPhone screen are designed to be confusing. I was initially disappointed that AT&T LTE didn’t come up while I was in Atlantic City, but their 4G service—which I assume is HSPA+ when it’s not LTE—is speedy as hell, although with lower maxima. (Given the monthly data caps, this might be a good thing.)

But what’s really confusing me about AT&T is that the number of bars and the presence of the LTE signal doesn’t seem to mean diddly. I can have moderate signal and LTE, and still twiddle my thumbs waiting for a page to load on the iPhone. Meanwhile, a single bar + LTE can still give me instant gratification. Not sure if the bar meter is displaying a direct dB signal measurement or whatnot, but I don’t care about that—I want a visual indicator of how well my phone is working, and to hell with the tech details. The AT&T displays seem to be skewed instead towards “make the user happy with the nifty icons, regardless of how his performance will be.”