Verizon data speed versus Cingular on smartphones

Spent quite a while at Cingular and Verizon stores over past couple
days. Been a long time Verizon user and been quite satisfied. However
Cingular has some pretty decent smart phones which I am thinking of
moving to due to their network speed.

I desire a good keyboard and screen to do some web surfing, check
emails and such. Verizons Palm/Treo, Blackberry and Audiovox all seem
pretty slow running EDGE or 1XRTT rev A (I think) COMPARED to the
Cingular 3G running on the new Blackjack or Cingular HTC 8525.

Cingular data plan is $240 less a year, you get rollover minutes, etc..

At one time I thought people were silly to go with any other vendor
than Verizon in North Carolina but now I am second guessing this.

Any one have thoughts on the data speed of Cingular GSM 3G versus
Verizon??
To me the Cingular test was wonderful-2x faster loading the same
pages. Verizon seems to be lagging but not sure if this will change in
the next 3-6 months.

I read phonescoop and infosyncworld but perhaps others have some
opinions on smartphones, data speed and Verizon versus Cingular in
general

Thanks
Patty