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I don't think it matters that AT&T had a landline presence in certain markets that they are now in as a cellular provider. The Cellular portion of the business started around 35 years ago, give or take, as SW Bell Mobile Systems. It went through a name change to Cingular wireless in the 1990s, then they essentially bought AT&T and the name changed again. The FCC sold a bunch of new spectrum in the 1990s, which provided a huge amount of growth in coverage nationwide and introduced a number of new players into the business. There were originally two cellular providers in my area, then they added six more. Companies had coverage in areas where they held licenses and no coverage in areas where they didn't. Now that roaming is essentially a thing of the past, God only knows who's actual equipment you may be talking through as you traverse the country.
During the growth phase, towers were placed in a high traffic areas and then areas with low traffic were filled in later. Subsequent to that, lots of towers got effectively moved as they tweaked their coverage.
It's a complex issue and simply blaming a carrier for perceived bad performance may not be warranted .
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