If you are interested in purchasing a cell phone, chances are that you will have plenty of options as to which service provider you can choose. The coverage is excellent and the calling plans are very flexible. In comparison with Sprint PCS, PacBell's service is much more spread out and the plans are cheaper and offer many more options, such as free long distance, which is extremely convenient for people who will be making a lot of calls to the east coast. Also, if you choose PacBell, chances are that whomever you are purchasing the plan from will throw in a free phone since PacBell has agreements with local retailers. This flexibility can be invaluable, since you can always change to a new service plan.
Sprint offers several service plans.
Another feature offered by Sprint is the option to share two phones on one plan for a small fee. If you use your cellphone to keep in touch with a significant other, this can be hightly economical. Despite what some other companies say, coverage is pretty complete. You may get some fuzziness in the garage or basement, but I've been all over LA with no problems. The only problem I've had is that it can take a while, perhaps 10 minutes, to get through to their customer service line.