Phone/Carrier for rural areas

I need a phone and carrier for traveling in rural areas especially in the Southwest
U.S. I have previously had a Verizon phone through an employer and it seemed to work well but I am lost in a sea of Tri-mode, dual-mode, CDMAs, GSM, etc. Does Verizon generally have the best coverage? I used to have AT&T Wireless (pre-Cingular merger obviously) and that analog/digital phone worked very well in
rural parts of Colorado. Does Cingular have as good of coverage as AT&T wireless did--even though they no longer have analog (from what I understand)? Thanks for your help.
 
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