I'm in an "extended area" and receive the same kind of bunk (one guy recently told me that AT&T must have "rights" to my area!). They've even offered to let me out of my ETF rather than deal with my calls when they mess up the network. I have to say that Sprint's customer service was even worse when I did business with them prior to VZW. That said, my town is on the Sprint LTE list. If I get a stronger signal, I'm gone. Same for AT&T if they ever upgrade from HSPA+ on the tower near me. Its all about signal (actually signal to noise or SINR) for LTE. The higher the SINR (less noise), the more likely you'll be able to keep a decent speed. Only way to determine that is to try a device and return it within the return period if it doesn't work.