OK, my first cellphone was a Nokia 210 or something. Ancient brick from around 1993 or so. The only exciting thing about it was that it was like the one Mulder first used on the X-Files. Then a Motorola Startac. Pretty much the first flip phone.

I've had many since then and they all suck in various ways, including many a Nokia (though the 6310i was a damn good phone for basic phone stuff).

Honestly, having the iPhone and now the iPhone 3G I can say that the phone and AT&T are pretty good. I live in the DC area and have my dead spots, but so does every carrier. I had the same thing with T-Mobile and a Nokia E61. The 3G seems (subjectively) no worse for me in DC or Atlanta, or Cleveland (places I've been with it so far) than the original iPhone.

As for the signal bars fluctuating, that's a given. They do that all the time and here on /. they had a post not too long ago about the signal-to-noise ratio issue. The bars tell you how strong the signal is from the towers to you, not the other way around, and don't factor in the noise that can mess it up.

As Marcus Ranum recently said in a SANS NewsBites about people complaining about the iPhone app kill-switch, if you don't like it, "So use another phone" !!

Besides, the games and apps are so much fun and so cool, who cares about phone calls?? :-P