Last summer saw a frenzy of advertisements from the wireless network operators, each one claiming that independent research verified that it had the fewest dropped calls, the largest network, the best network, the friendliest network, the hippest network and so on. You'll never believe who ranked first in this study.mindWireless looked at 80 million points of caller data from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2006, and rated Sprint's CDMA network as the network with the fewest dropped calls with a duplicate call percentage of 5.4. mindWireless defined a dropped or "duplicate call" as a call from a cellular device to another wireless device or landline placed within two minutes of a prior call to the same destination, with no call between. Calls to voicemail and push-to-talk calls were excluded. Geographic location, topography and population size are all variables in the performance of a wireless network.

Cingular's legacy AT&T Wireless network ranked second with a duplicate rate of 5.7%, followed by Verizon Wireless with 8%, Cingular's own GSM network with 11.3% and T-Mobile's with 13.8%.

The results are somewhat surprising because Sprint is generally ranked low in such studies. With these results now public, I am sure Sprint's competitors will have further studies done so they can tailor their marketing messages appropriately.

For now, though, Sprint can thumb its collective nose at the other three major U.S. carriers and set spokesman Ron Livingston on a rampage of "nyah-nah-nah-nah-NAH-naaaah" advertising.