Nextel?

[KenW.]

Anyone use NEXTELs? Every vehicle in our patrol division, and many key individuals in the department have issued nextels. I'm interested in leaving my personal t-mobile service and am considering going nextel for the walkie-talkie compatability with my sgts and others. They won't issue me one; but still want me to telephone the office for different reasons.

I'm about ready to try this:
Dispatch: "DELTA-85 10-21 dispatch.".
Me: "Sorry dispatch, Negative. I don't have a department issued phone".

How do you like nextels for mixed official and private use?

[sflcop]

I personally HATE nextel. I got rid of mine a month or so ago and went to Cingular. I could not be happier. I had nothing but problems with my nextel for the entire 2 years that I had it. Dropped calls, static on the calls, expensive bills, etc. Just my .02

[Crex4242]

Anyone use NEXTELs? Every vehicle in our patrol division, and many key individuals in the department have issued nextels. I'm interested in leaving my personal t-mobile service and am considering going nextel for the walkie-talkie compatability with my sgts and others. They won't issue me one; but still want me to telephone the office for different reasons.

I'm about ready to try this:
Dispatch: "DELTA-85 10-21 dispatch.".
Me: "Sorry dispatch, Negative. I don't have a department issued phone".

How do you like nextels for mixed official and private use?

my department uses nextel and never can get in contact with each other in the woods. I have verizon adn can call any of them all day long so they are all going to my cell phone.lol

[Groundhog]

I have a department-issued Nextel and a personal phone w/ Verizon. When I'm off-duty, I usually forward the Nextel to my personal phone because the cellular service with Nextel sucks so bad.

[scooterlee]

I own a nextel and am happy w/ it.. Service is a lil' tricky right now, but Sprint and Nextel have merged and they are supposedly going to be in the top 3 cell phone providers. Should improve their coverage areas severely.

If you decide to get one, make sure you tell them your a copper, they will usually give you a gov't rate and/or discount.

good luck,

stay safe!!

[MP Teamleader]

Two dixie cups and a string would be better than NEXTEL. I hate them so bad, when I call to complain about dropping a call I usually drop the call when I talk to them. It happened three times in one converstion with them, I always call on my phone to complain so they can experience the same thing I do. They gave my a $50.00 off my bill to make up for the problem but wont let me out of my contract, so I call them twice a week to complain and call them back when the call drops!

[sflcop]

MP... sounds similar to what I went through, but would up with over $200 worth of credit. If you call government customer care 1-800-390-7545 and get a supervisor who is in a decent mood, you stand a good chance of getting out of your contract. You know... the old being a police officer, and NEEDING your phone to work for safety reasons, blah, blah, blah. Good luck.

[Straight Up]

Country wide for cell phone......Cingular.....hands down, works in ninety eight percent of the country. Like the old analog system better though. Had a box made by Wilson that really kicked the signal up.

Tried some of the other guys, Nextell, Sprint, and others, always canceled the contracts in the trial period



Card for Lap Top Internet coverage......Sprint....works everywhere except on my way to the north west and a few dead spots across I 10 in west Texas, NM, AZ but pretty much everywhere else. About ninety percent of the country.

Only problem with Sprint....coustemer service they will try to rip you off, but will after several calls back off and get it right.....aholes

Tried the ATT card about a year ago, not even close to the coverage of the sprint card

[Puget Sound]

I've had Nextel for a year and I love it. I get service in all the places you'd expect to, and then I get service many times when you'd expect not to, out in the boonies and such. I've never had a problem with dropped calls or anything like that. I've been very satisfied.

I had AT&T before Nextel, would pick Nextel anyday.

[sgttom]

I have a work issued Nextel and Verizon for my personal. Had a personal Nextel before... no real problems.....

[nacorbier]

Only problem I've had with Nextel was back. We were given these lovely yellow and black rubberized nextel phones, I think they were the i750?

The owner of the company had told us that he had gotten "Life Safety Override" on the nextels, which basically means that if the tower is busy, and we key up, we knock people off the tower to get a 911 call or a group talk out.

Good part: During the Super Bowl in Tampa, I would watch people key up with Nextel and get the dreaded 'tower busy' tone. I would key up, and I'd get a clear signal and a chirp. I remember one guy was standing there talking on his PPT, and next thing I know, I key up, and he gets BEEEP. Negative tower busy tone. He was like, "Woah. Gotta get me that."

Bad Part: This was when group call mode costed money. Every time we'd key up, and use them like radios, that was .27 cents for each recieving nextel. .27x50 per touch. That, thankfully, is no longer an issue. However, the Tampa/St. Petersburg coverage had alot of dead spots. We inherited the same dead spots as the Sheriff's Office, since we were now all on 800mhz. I remember trying to key up in Largo, while deputies or LPD would try as well, and we'd all be like ... stupid radios...

I'm looking into Nextel currently, but I'm still a little ... about them. I do remember a singular instance where a nextel refused to get signal, and the guy threw it at the suspect who was attacking him. Being surprisingly heavy, it gave the guy an advantage over the suspect who was going ? at the time.

[Operator13]

Documentation problems

Others have mentioned coverage problems, or lack there of, but I know of problems with documentation issues. When a Trooper calls our Comm Ctr via a regular cell all conversations are recorded and therefor documented. When you two-way each other there is no documentation as to what was actually said and this can cause problems for everyone involved.

________________________________

This is my opinion and is no way endorsed by my employer.

[IPD5410]

We use Nextels. no problems...our computers are driven by nextel modems. I also have a two-way & phone that works when out VHF radio does not.

[peterb]

Nextel

Many of the law enforcement community in Minnesota has and uses Nextels. I personally have found it to be a more reliable and "secret" way to communicate (it can't be monitored...yet). I also use it to communicate across the country. The direct connect feature is free. Public safety gets discounted invoices (10% off of everything). So far my service has been good and coverage more than meets my needs.

[powertoburn]

I have a department-issued Nextel and a personal phone with Cingular.

Nextel works well in my patrol area but once I leave the service lacks. When I am off-duty I forward calls from my Nextel to Cingular.

In a neighbooring city department-isssued is Cingular.

In both cases Cingular / Nextel has improved their reception by putting up more sites.