What phone to get with Nextel?

[krupted]

i was looking on thier site for phones and i dont really like any of them. i guess the i850 is about the best they have, unless i go with the crummy-sized pda styles. Im wanting a regular looking phone but with pda like features. I remember seeing one on cingular that had a keyboard slide out the side, that would be perfect.

but its gotta be nextel, i need it for work. why dont they seem to have any good phones? or are they all just not on the website?

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

why dont they seem to have any good phones?

Heh, you will find yourself asking that question ALOT once you start using it. I manage my company's Nextel network, and I swear the phones have mood swings. At about 6-8 months (depending on use), the phones start to randomly turn off and reboot. After a month or so of it doing that, either the problem goes away, or the phone totally dies. They are not the best phones when it comes to signals, either. I think the towers are overworked, since everyone is using the 2-way radio feature. Any restaurant I go to, all I hear is "beep-beep." Everyone has one! All I know is my office is a signal black hole--I can watch the bars go up and (mostly) down all day. Sometimes I just get a "No Signal" message.

I'm not sure what to tell you about what phone to pick, but maybe more complicated isn't a good idea?

 

[krupted]

meh, i like stuff with stuff i dont need. im surprised about your troubles, i normally hear that nextel is real good for reliability. theyre motorola phones so thats not shabby by any means.

Man, i really want to go verizon, they got all the phones and they always are on the latest stuff before anyone else is. too bad thier push to talk cant connect to direct talk customers.

its gotta be nextel though, i need the direct talk for work. ****s how that one function completely limits my choice on phones. I still have two months to decide, i may just go with verizon i dont know....

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Yeah, Nextel is rough here. Many areas around KC come up with no signal, yet if you have Verizon or something else, you have 5 bars. Since Sprint is based out of KC, maybe that will change?

 

[krupted]

sprint isnt tied with verizon now is it? i cant keep track anymore, theyre all merging into one

 

[Hoyle]

They are not 'tied' exactly. But our company just moved over to sprint, and I've discovered that when the phones are set to "force roam" your coverage is exactly the same as verizon (my personal cell is Verizon). If you try to access a Sprint in-network feature while on forced roam, a Verizon answering service tells you that it's unavailable. So basically I think Sprint just pays Verizon a bundle to use their network.

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Actually, what I was getting at is that Sprint now owns Nextel. Maybe we will see better signals because of the shared towers?

 

[Hoyle]

I don't know. I knew quite a few people who used AT&T wireless happily prior to the Cingular buy-out. After that, they said that service level plummeted and they mostly switched to Verizon (including my high-school friend who ran an AT&T wireless customer service center in Portland - she left the company a few weeks later, I guess).

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

I sure hope not. It would look pretty bad if Sprint's network got worse in their hometown!

 

[krupted]

well i see ads of it today during football. it seems that sprints phones can now use direct connect! thats awesome, just what i wanted because i think sprint has better phones.

got some reasearchin to do....



update-*-

Well, i guess im off the nextel wagon now. again talking to guys who have them say its a rip off, theyre more money with less coverage. I know their coverage isnt as good as say verizon or even cingular but i thought the quality was as good. i guess even in their coverage areas the connections can **** bad. man after all this time and now the winston cup name you would think they would work on getting more service out there. maybe that was what the sprint deal was about i guess....


so now since i dont have time for sprint and nextel to morph as one (they are still running seperately but will blend slowly together) i guess my best option now is verizon oh well they have good phones

 

[krupted]

Actually, what I was getting at is that Sprint now owns Nextel. Maybe we will see better signals because of the shared towers?

i read that they cant really share right now because they use uncommon formats, sprint is cdma and nextel is thier own crap. cdma is used by most carriers i think, and now this buyout will eventually rid of nextels format, and create a new sprint hybrid that will be like most others but will add the direct connect system to it.

Basically, it means you can now get web/internet cell service that also has direct connect. nextel right now cant handle web traffic well i guess, not like verizons high speed stuff

what happened in that deal simply was a purchase of the 5th largest userbase and also the direct connect technology. -DC is not the same as verisons push-to-talk, i guess direct connect is far superior in reliability and speed (i could back that, we use them everyday at work).-

I think in a year or two the sprint/nextel option will be the best way to go, but for now in the midwest it looks to be verizon.

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

I don't know about Verizon's PTT, but Nextel's big advantage is that they came out much sooner. Everyone who wants DC owns a Nextel, so they can't change providers easily, since PTT and DC aren't compatible. I know at work my company has 13 nextels, and we also have 2 other contractors that have their own nextel plans, but we are one giant unofficial Nextel group. Not one of our 3 groups can switch, since that one group would be incompatible with the other 2. For it to work, we'd all have to change, which is highly unlikely. I guess my point is that there are probably many companies in the same situation as mine, so Nextel holds the customer base.

 

[Hoyle]

Well, Sprint does now. The trouble that Sprint has is that their actual Network is not nearly as complete as Verizon's. If they're going to be scrapping the Nextel format as well, then the buyout isn't going to win them any better coverage. What Sprint DOES have are contracts with just about every other provider, including Verizon. That means that in 'digital roam' mode (and Sprint actually lets you lock your phone into this mode!) you can't use any of Sprints more advanced features.

 

[krupted]

well theyll rid of the software but all of nextels towers will be adjusted to run the new stuff. Cell phone technology is all the same infastructure, its the firmware/software that changes. sprint really did expand thier network a great deal with this merger, although they are still number 3 behind verizon and cingular for size.

theres only a couple networks out there, most companies pay the big two to use it, as hoyle was saying when sprint uses verizon to roam.

This is also why nextels coverage ****s right now, since they cant use any other peoples towers in a pinch, none of the formats are the same. and yet again another comany goes under when they try to wander the path on their own

Even if push to talk came out the same time nextels did it wouldnt have matterd. Push to talk technology is far inferior for business use. Nextel's DC, made and developed by motorola, i hear its virtually uncrackable sine they made is so proprietary. This security along with the sheer speed (a connection is made under a second) is the reason DC is so popular with businesses. Also, our government has been buying direct connect phones for thier use because of the security.

I think ill just work out a one year deal, i have a feeling by then i wont want to be with verizon anymore

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Well, I think Nextel dug a hole when they made PTT proprietary, much like Apple did when they tried to own the personal computer. It works for a while, but then the competition either figures your system out, or simply beats you another way. In this case, Nextel was beat another way, because no one has created a successful PTT yet. However, I think Nextel's patent expired on the technology, so others now have a way in without paying for it. It's amazing how much the herd of cellular companies has thinned over the years. Ah, competition.

 

[krupted]

i dont think their patents expried, because nobody else is using the direct connect technology. verison develpoed ptt on thier own, hence the reason it took so long for it to come out, and why it doesnt work as good.

im sure itll be a long time before nextel lets go of the patent, how long has polaroid had theirs now? its been like 30 years!

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

I'm not sure what copyrights Nextel lost on 2-way radio phones recently, but they did lose something. I remember our Nextel rep (who sells more than just nextel) telling me about it when verizon started their PTT system. He also was explaining how hard it was going to be for a startup company to gain customers, since Nextel had such a large customer base and that the networks aren't compatible. I would imagine that eventually Big Brother (maybe the FCC) will step in and force a compatible standard. I don't see Nextel/Sprint being allowed to hold the rights to that tech indefinitely. It just doesn't seem to be the way the communications business works.

 

[krupted]

yeah i see your point, the fcc usually does rear its ugly head and does what it wants.

they probably lost the 'idea' of direct connect, meaning using a cellular phone system to instantly 2-way another member across the country. verizon just had to come up with a way to do it differently.

I still think sprint/nextel will hold on the to technology, i mean really how long has it been that poloroid has been the only one allowed to make instant film? i keep hearing thier patents are going to exprie but i think they get extensions or something...

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

I suppose, but this is the communications industry, where compatible standards are really necessary. Just think what it would be like if the PC industry didn't collaborate to make 802.11x! It's nice to be able to reach anyone in the country with a 10 digit number, and I think soon enough, 2-way will be the same way. For one example, Nextel phones are very popular with emergency response groups. I know that during storm restoration, that 2-way feature pays for itself many times.

Not sure why polariod gets to keep their patent. Maybe because it's old technology and is grandfathered in. Maybe it's because it's not communications based. It's not like it matters much anymore, what with digital cameras an all.

 

[krupted]

youre probably right, usually patents are thrown to the wind when government is involved. I do see the difference between cameras and communication, we dont really need cameras around

actually i was reading up and i guess polaroid has hundreds of patents on instant film. I guess in other parts of the world other companies make it just not in america. still mind-boggling they held onto them after 50+ years now.

a compatible 2-way cell system across the board would help the communications industry, but probably not nextel alone so im sure they will fight for it till the death. but i could easily see the fcc sayin "nope! i think the government will just take that money eh heh heh heh"