In the early 90's, we got on Cingular, which later morphed into AT&T, then switched to T-Mobile, then back to AT&T, where we remained for several years. Late last August, we went to Sprint, in part because they had the best phone for our needs.
Maybe it's the areas or luck, but we are happily surprised. We get less dropped calls than with AT&T, and the customer service (including website) is superior. My usage is light, but my wife uses her phone as a second office, as often she's out to meet clients and make presentations. She spends much time on voice, and writes/answers many emails and texts. Admittedly, she doesn't do Radio Shack searches.
As far as your claim that Metro PCS has less dropped calls -- we actually feel sorry for the few Metro users in her office, as they are plagued with bad coverage and dropped calls.