To AT&T, it is a big deal because, right now, they are retaliating to the Verizon Ads poking at their Network Coverage.
Being an avid Television watcher, I have seen quite a lot of ads AT&T and Verizon has put out. AT&T pushes that they have more bars anywhere (But when you look at the small text in the commercial, it points out that coverage will vary in the US) and Verizon pushes they have the 'people' behind their network. It wasn't until recently Verizon started shooting literal pokes at AT&T about their coverage, namely, their 3G coverage on square foot basis. The coverage that AT&T gives with their map is where you get signal, but that will, again, vary on terrain and obstacles, such as building structure. Which is where Verizon is trying to poke more holes in AT&T's 'Fastest 3G' claim and coverage.
Given AT&T did have a Cease and Desist suit against Verizon with regards to the Coverage commercials, which was overruled by the courts, this was their next recourse in marketing to deflect the current Verizon marketing against their Coverage and the release of the Droid.
AT&T's focus was network as well as Apple supporting AT&T with the one thing GSM Edge supports, Voice and Data at the same time. This was probably aimed at one of the comments from the Droid "iDon't" commercial, one of which was multi-tasking. What is the best way to prove it can multi-task? Talking on the phone and browsing the internet. Can the Droid do that? No. Because of the network, the network Verizon claims to have better coverage with than AT&T.
I posted earlier about the way the commercials are aimed and how it is slightly biased. In the Luke Wilson ads, the 3 of them, the first one with the 'Which network has...' The focus was more on highlighting what AT&T had, but not the nitty gritty of it. Of the 5 things they talked about, only 2 had real merit for an argument, which was their ability to have voice and data at the same time and supposidly the fastest 3G network.
The second Luke Wilson commercial focused on the Voice and Data at the same time again, making it more of a comedy on the inability to do Browsing of the Web while on the phone.
The third Luke Wilson Commercial with him tossing post cards about places they cover was just to try and deflect the coverage map Verizon has been harping about. Which again, it is true they cover those areas, but the issue is not that they don't cover those areas, it is how well they cover those ares which is where Verizon's map is more about not overall area but effective area coverage.
The people who left AT&T and their iPhone might be doing it strictly because of the network coverage is not as nice as they would like it with AT&T as it is with Verizon. Verizon's Droid Commercial was very effective in making people know there is an iPhone alternative, much more so than the T-mobile MyTouch Google phone commercials and HTC's generic advertising of their phone. Sprint just recently hopped the Droid bandwagon advertising with the HTC Hero phone on their network, mentioning the apps part, but not too heavily about it being a Droid based phone, I think, but their main focus is harping that they are on their way to being on the 4G network to bring in people.
In either case, all the brands will be looking at implementing new 4G network technologies that will render the argument moot as this is currently a 3G network implementation argument and the 4G networks should be different with regards to the issues in 1 to 2 years from now.
. I can HONESTLY say, even in rural bum-farg areas, I rarely if ever can't get a signal, or drop a call.