I understand your frustration. However, coverage complaints are not the purpose of this thread. I have excellent coverage in my rural area. Sprint's rural coverage is highly variable. But, it is better than Tmo in 90% of areas. You live in one of the anomaly areas, then.
And although AT&T does have better rural coverage than Sprint, AT&T loves to stick it to their rural customers. Sprint is putting LTE over it's entire coverage area. AT&T said they will not because it is throwing a tantrum about not being able to buy out Tmo and is sticking a big middle finger up at their rural customers who want LTE.
Robert