Your tmo experience isn't typical
Tmo - from 3 years ago when I had them, and today, always rates near the top in independent surveys. Sprint (again back then, though they've made efforts to improve) is at the bottom.
I never had connectivity issues back then, and tmo's customer service was more helpful and knowledgeable about porting my phones to Cing/now ATT than Cingular was. Latest survey results bear this out:
Ratings | J.D. Power
That said, I'm not married to ANY carrier - past my subsidy commitment at least. It is all in the price/performance ratio for me in daily use. I don't like poor customer service, but honestly I usually get whatever is technically possible from any of them because I just wear them out - in a polite way - if required.
Of course, surveys don't matter much to individuals, but they are helpful to folks who have NOT had trouble when considering a provider switch.
But, more on-topic, I EXPECT anything more than 6 months old to be at/near the edge of it's time on the top of the technologically advanced heap. Buying laptops got me over buyer's remorse ages ago - same deal, 6 months and the next fastest processor is out. As others have mentioned, it seems too quick for different hardware for the N1; the product numbers in the FCC approvals may give a hint. If the progression from t-mo to vz to att all look the same or all increment by 100 (or whatever), that's one thing; if they increment a different digit in the sequence, that *could* be a hint, or not!
ADS
Anything T-mobile carries has been disappointment. Surprised the N1 went to a company who always lost money and btw has one of the worst Customer Service. I say Big Red will have to carry the weight to bring N1 to supreme but I am sticking with my droid.LOL