Fretting about dropped calls in Ballard, missing text messages in Belltown or poor network coverage in Bellevue? If so, a new application from Root Wireless might be for you.

The Bellevue company, which is coming out of stealth mode and announcing a media partnership with CNET today, has created online maps for eight U.S. cities that show in great detail how each of the four major wireless carriers stack up against one another.

"There's an abundance of information available on the devices from resources like CNET and other review sites, but when it comes to the performance of the networks, the only resource available to end users has been carrier coverage maps," said Paul Griff, co-founder and CEO of Root Wireless. "We felt there was a need in the marketplace for third-party, unbiased information that doesn't provide opinions, but rather provides hard data about the networks."

The color-coded online maps -- which will be available for free to consumers who download a mobile application on select GPS-enabled smartphones -- allow users to zoom in or out on the maps to get broad or granular views of network performance.

That means an AT&T customer in a tiny pocket of Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood could compare her service to T-Mobile, Verizon or Sprint Nextel. Or, a customer looking to switch carriers, could compare service from each of the four carriers across the entire Seattle metropolitan area.

In a recent demo, one could see extremely weak signal strength for AT&T just south of Bridle Trails State Park in Kirkland. A larger area of Seattle's Eastside showed a higher percentage of network errors for T-Mobile than Sprint or AT&T.

Root Wireless' service is especially timely given that Verizon tonight unveiled a major advertising campaign touting its robust network, and taking a swipe at the network of its closest rival, AT&T.

Griff, a former Bsquare executive who founded Beepers NW in the late 1980s, said that consumers are actively looking for information about celllular network performance. And while companies such as Nielsen Mobile compile that kind of data for carriers, Griff said no one is really doing it for consumers.

Root Wireless has already compiled data on eight U.S. cities -- using part-time drivers to collect network information in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas and Orange County. Going forward, Root plans to add new cities to mix and enhance the data by relying on users.

Those who download the Root Wireless app (available in a public beta in three weeks for Windows Mobile, RIM and Android phones) will essentially become roving network testers.

(The company also is working on an iPhone application, but because Apple prevents third-party apps from running in the background it won't have the same level of features as the other devices).

The Root Wireless application will collect network data in the background, periodically sending information to Root's servers. Once loaded on the phone, the application operates on its own with little impact. It throttles back if the phone is running low on battery, and for the most part, collects data only in locations where Root Wireless has limited information.

In turn, wireless phone geeks will be able to analyze how coverage and data speeds compare to other networks or how other devices perform on the same network. Users also can track cellular phone performance in certain areas, comparing "true" signal strength to what the bars on the phone show.

And, at any time, they can actively hit a "record" button to collect network performance data for a potential problem area.

The goal, Griff said, is to have a "very Zillow-like user experience" for consumers. There's also an opportunity to offer the service to business customers, say a delivery company that wants to plan out which wireless carriers have the strongest network coverage in specific areas.

"It is getting more common that enterprises will have service level agreements on their wireless contracts, but it is rare that they have any access to data to ... enforce those agreements," Griff said. "We provide empirical data on when their devices have been in and out of coverage."

Root Wireless -- which employs seven people -- raised a $1 million round of capital earlier this year from angel investors such as former T-Mobile exec John Stanton, former McCaw Cellular exec Scott Anderson and former Telephia CEO Jack Roberts.

Griff said he was reluctant to provide nitty gritty details on the business model, since he expects competitors to flock into the market. But he did note that the data could be extremely useful to online publishers like CNET as well as retailers looking to reduce cellular phone returns.

Griff said the company is planning a test with a retail partner later this year so that cell phone customers could get matched with a carrier that provides the best service for their specific neighborhood or commute.

"On average, about 20 percent of phones sold at retail are returned and about a third of all those returns are related to coverage," said Griff. "We ought to be able to move the needle on returns."

Down the road, the carriers themselves could actually be customers of the service. But Griff said that's an area dominated by Nielsen Mobile, and one market he doesn't plan to enter in the near-term.

Of course, as one of the early testers, Griff has some interesting insights on the carriers' performance.

"What we see in general, is that every carrier has areas of real strength and real weakness. And as we look from market to market it is not always what you'd expect it to be," he said. "It is impossible to generalize that one carrier is better than another."