Can I get some service here?

I'm slowly coming to the end of a long mobile contract with AT&T (originally Cingular) and I'm in the mood to shop around. I've looked at all the plans that the major carriers have to offer, but I'm curious as to what kind of experiences you guys have had with your services, good or bad? Any particularly frustrating or enlightening anecdotes?

I'm not particularly loyal to a single brand at the moment and I have had no problems with AT&T coverage or customer service, but I tend to be a low maintenance customer and haven't needed lots of customer service. Most of the major carriers out there have unlimited night/weekend minutes, which is when most of my calling happens anyway, so that's a non-issue. Currently I'm only using about 400 anytime minutes and roughly 200 text messages per month, and I'd like to have the option of unlimited text and/or data, but it's not a deal-breaker, just a preference. In addition to new service, I'm also looking at new hardware. I usually prefer flip phones over bar phones, but I've had my eye on the LG Scoop/Rumor with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. I found out that my brother has one and so I played around with it over the holiday and I like the basic form and function, but I'd have to do some jury rigging to set my mp3s as ringtones (without having to buy ringtones from a service), which is annoying.

Another phone I saw out and about is the Samsung Alias, which is like a standard flip phone, but it flips both along the short and long sides, using the same screen and keypad in both directions. It looks convenient, but I'm worried that the buttons would be too small for my fingers. Any of you have had particularly good experiences with your hardware?