NEXTEL

[rdam]

It seems communications is a popular topic. I'm aware of at least one other member who has Nextel (OkeeDon). Anyone else use Nextel? My "Country" neighbor in North Florida has it and it has been very convenient for quick questions or property checks. The radio feature encorages short, "get to the point" conversations. Since it's now Nationwide, it would be interesting to see who has it and who is willing to swap Nextel ID's (beep beep "Hey, my tractor won't start, any ideas")

I recommend NOT posting Nextel ID's. PM or e-mail is probably better.

 

[Inspector507]

I use Nextel, but the Nationwide Direct Connect is an additional $10 a month........I'll stay local for now /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The "beep beep" feature is nice, but it is of no use here at home. We're within 2 miles of a major interstate and can't get good service in the house. The phone feature works great, just not Direct Connect.

Jerry

 

[OkeeDon]

I love Nextel. As I've mentioned in other threads, the whole family has it. The only problem is my son-in-law who will chirp you every time he has a radom thought. He's working on the problem /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif.

The only problem is that it's digital-only service and does not roam into anyone else's service. If Nextel isn't available, you don't have a phone. I'm leaving tomorrow for a couple of weeks in Hiawassee, GA, which is halfway between coverage areas. Guess I'm going to find out how much I can relax - no phone and no computer. I just packed my buffer and a couple of quarts of fiberglass restorer into the old motor home.

There's also no service in Nortwestern NC, where our cabin is. In fact, there's almost no digital service there, at all - only the local cell company, and only in the "downtown" section of West Jefferson. Seems they (all the cell companies) have a real problem getting digital service, which is line-of-sight, into the mountains. Florida, on the other hand, is covered like a blanket.

The nationwide direct connect does cost an extra $10 a month, but that's for unlimited use. They have a plan for 10 cents a minute if you don't sign up. 100 minutes is a long time on direct connect. Most of the time, our conversations are over in a couple of minutes. If the kids need to get ahold of us while one or the other is out of state, we'll pay the 10 cents. My son and I used it just the other day when I was home and he was in New York.

The other thing is, it's just the initiating person (either way, into or out of the home area) who pays the 10 cents, or the 10 bucks for unlimited. The person receiving isn't billed.

Anyone wants my Direct Connect number, just send a PM. But, you won't get a response to either the PM or the direct connect until after Labor Day.

 

[gws]

Nextel is a love it hate it type of product. If your within nextels towers you love it, once you step outside there towers you hate it. Nextel is not a cellular phone, Its a SMR (speicalied mobile radio) service and operates under a different set of rules than cellular. Nextel's coverage outside of major metra areas suck at best and are non-existant in many cases, Several north western state have no coverage at all. In town my phone works Ok, still a lot of building penatration issues outside of town once you get 20 miles from the interstate nextel have little to no coverage.

The 2way feature is nice, Now if I can just stop ending all my nextel with my ham call sign.

The nation wide 2way as noted is extra money and ONLY works with the latest model phones. Not all phones are nationwide capabile.


Verizon has announced PTT nationwide service and they have a MUCH better coverage than nextel. They are similar in price and hopfully this will drive the pirce of nextel and virzon ptt down. Still a lot more money than I would pay for it. If my employeer didnt pay for my nextel I would never have it.

 

[higgy]

The verison version is now avalible, I am going to watch and see what the prices do. I use verison for normal cell service and I work in all of the states in rual areas and there are very few holes in the service. If the radio has the same coverage it may be a good deal.

 

[PBMAX]

Howdy folks, I used to work fer Nextel and finally got cought in a lay off crunch a year or so ago. Stuff happens. But I still have my Nextel and will continue to use it unless the go up to much and $ drives me else whare. As for nation wide I love it I beeped my dad and my wife from the west cost recently...and Long Island last week (Before the black out). I travel I lot more now so Am all over . I buzzed the wife from Fennamore WI about a month ago (talk about out in the middle of the country). Having worked for them I know kinda How to fox hunt signal. I found one place in town that had 1 bar if you stood still and help your mouth right.
You do have to have a plus model phone or one of the newer JAVA based phones to get nation wide 2way (OR dispatch) services.
As for Verizon checked the web page and found they only provide the service in the "Enhanced Service Areas" Basically the places that have digital services. This if you check the maps is not so great an area nation wide...But still compitition of any kind is usually a good thing.

 

[PBMAX]

Inspector507, Odd that the phone works but not the 2way. Have you called the 800 # and complanied? Call from a land line it can take a while... there could be other issues at work and they may not be aware of it. For intsence the radio u would usually grab for 2way may be having problems. We often couldn't find or pin down a trouble area until customers complained. Based on the location of the customers problem we could narrow the area to a few towers or less.If you are 2 miles from the interstate you are hopefully 8ml or less from the nearest twr. Besides if your cell works the 2twy should. I have seen it the other way around though...were the 2way work but not the cell(very good any way) on week signal... Keep in mind the max power of your typical Nextel is .6watts.

Keep in mind the folk you call are not field people they are just customer support and are just tipically logging and reporting problem but will help if they can.
If they have takin complaints from you and have not fixed the problem keep after them. At the very least they should be able to tell you your just out of luck do to your location and or interferance issues. You would be amazes how big a problem Pine trees can be... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Me i live on mtn exactly 8 miles between 2 towers and they don't communicate with each other becuase of it so one end of my house talks on one tower and the other end on the other one. So if you walk from one end to the other of the house you drop the call. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[RobertN]

I arranged for Nextel's in the group I used to work in at a major hi-tech company. We did a lot of in-house service and trouble shooting in a failure analysis lab. They worked out very well for us.

Originally, we tried pagers. But coverage even within the 150,000sq-ft buildings was poor. Then we still had to get to a phone.

Then, we tried Motorola radios. Have you ever keyed a mike to talk, while sitting next to a $750,000 scanning electron microscope? Man o man, all the sudden relays started clicking, things started venting, not a good thing! So, we gave up on that...

The plumbing company my B-in-law works for had Nextels. They had the major contractors and sub-contractors linked in too. The system worked great for them(still does), so I got our group to try them.

It worked really well. We had instant contact with each other. Problems could be solved easily over the 2-way in a lot of cases. We had never had cell phones for work; that worked nice when you were buried behind a machine doing system debug. When the regular phone did not reach, you could still be talking to the vendor about exactly which wire connected where ect. We also had a couple vendors who had them, and made arrangements to get them in our 2-way service(all before this new 2-way super service). That was awesome.

My biggest annoyance with them was during private time, like when you're on the can /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif That 2-way connects if you are in service, they know you are out there!

We also had to watch things in conference mettings and such. Like a pager, they could be a distraction.

This was 3-4 years ago. I really liked the phones, but at the time, Nextel did not have a very good private program; they were geared towards business. I guess that has changed now.

 

[PBMAX]

When I am in-disposed I use the lil buton on top of my I100plus the one for power.
they actually used to have a function for turning off the 2way by pressing *#68 and this would disable the 2way but contractors I'm told complained that once their crue's figured this out they would us it and say they never got the beep. They groupe function can still be turned off by *#38 and choosing OFF.
Or *# 9 for all vibrate.

My wife has the newer 60C model and you can choose which functions you want to ring or vibrate.

When ever I'm in public such as dinning out or a theater I use the vibrate mode. This way I can see who is calling with out disturbing others. I will if need be go to a lobby or outside and take the call. I refuse to be as rude as some and yell into phone during dinner or a movie.

All cells should vibrate if you ask me.... and it seems more are doing so but a lot of the "cheap ones don't"...

 

[itsmecindi]

Here's the call numbers for my beep beep if anyone wants to try it, but I know my husband couldn't get me from Georgia last weekend. I don't have the nationwide but have been considering getting it. I don't guess there's any serial beepers out there so here ya go....

161*141074*1

It'll be on til about midnight and then on again about seven a.m.