It depends on the particular ara. here in North Carolina, where there aren't many people who would buy $100-$1,000 phones, they have almost no coverage. But in areas between towns that would have customers, they have good coverage. (I did the same as you - a $10 TracFone to test the coverage. My Note didn't get any different coverage once I determined that AT&T covered what I needed. If they don't give the cheap phone decent coverage, I'd try a different cheap phone - TMO or Verizon - before being stuck with an $800 phone that didn't get good coverage.)