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Sprint Close to Buying Nextel
NateDawg writes "After the recent merger of AT&T and Cingular, it looks like Sprint is close to buying out Nextel. According to CNet, the different networks could bring expensive problems, but that could be overcome by the diversity of the company's clients. Nextel has many corporate clients, while Sprint appeals to families and teens."
Things always tend to change after a company is bought; i hope they stay doing good.
We'll see how this goes.
...)
If you think Cingular/ATT is a bloodbath, wait till you see this one.
Divergent technologies, different networks, and completely different corporate philosophies.
Nextel caters to the business user (not typically the white-collar CEO types, but more of the blue-collar type) and it's great for that.
Sprint basically picks up the leftovers that VZW & Cingular don't want (those with iffy credit ratings
Yeah, good luck. Match made in heaven, really.
According to CNet, the different networks could bring expensive problems, but that could be overcome by the diversity of the company's clients.
This sentence should read: "According to CNet, the different networks could bring expensive problems, but that could be overcome by making the customers pay through the nose"
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
Too bad Sprint didn't learn from NorTel, ATT, Compaq, HP and others. The best way to get to be bigger is to grow a company not in aquiring others.
Another CEO mistake.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint and Nextel have tentatively agreed to basic terms of a merger. The $36 billion deal would create a third giant cellular carrier with nearly 39 million subscribers. Although Sprint shareholders will retain more than 50% of the combined company, to be called "Sprint-Nextel", the merger will otherwise be mutual. The new company will have a 50-50 split among board members from each company. The new company would spin off Sprint's local landline operations. Nothing has been finalized yet, but the companies are said to be "advanced negotiations", and an official announcement could come next week.
http://www.phonescoop.com/
Lets just hope they don't go with Sprints "special" technology... then the US would finally be a bit closer to other places (europe & japan etc..) regarding wireless technology (disregarding spectrums right now though.. FCC?).
Is this the same Nextel who once showed a fine grasp of taste by running an ad campaign called "The Final Solution" featuring a Hitler impersonator promising to "exterminate all dues"?
More on this here
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
oh well.
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http://freedvr.home.comcast.net/
", the different networks could bring expensive problems, but that could be overcome by the diversity of the company's clients"
"It's a bad deal, that won't work, but we'll be passing those savings on to our customers!"
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I am a nextel customer. Have been for years. The PTT is the only reason. With the spectrum swap in the recent past and now this, I wonder what happens to the phones that I use for my business? I don't know a hell of a lot about cell phone tech but I don't imagine that my nextel will work on multiple freqs. It is starting to sound like I'm gonna have to buy all new phones. Access to the fast data network on the sprint side would be nice but I don't need it so bad that I'm gonna junk $1500 worth of phones....
In this area consolidation is exepcted. How many carriers can the market space really support...I say 3 just because it's a magic number I think Nextel is currently the number 5 wireless carrier, not sure about sprint, but I think it's in the top 3 (Verizon is/was number 1 last time I checked).
The thing I love about Nextel are their phones. From a developers [J2ME] perspective, the are very easy to work with (except for webjal). Specifically, their iDen network and their programming APIs allow access to the GPS functionality of the phone. The i730 has a complete programmers' guide available for download from the Motorla site. Can't wait to get my hands on their latest camera phone to see if you can programatically control the camera. Then you could snap a pic and tag the info with the GPS coordinates.
Additionally, they [Nextel] have a nice developers site. Downside is that I find Nextel converage to be much worse than Verizon, so I ended up needing a Verizon phone for actual talking and a Nextel one for fun development.
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I kind of like the idea of merging with nextel. Maybe this will eventually make it so I can have one of the memory chips that allows me to transfer my account/number/phone memory right to another phone just like Nextel. Right now, I cannot do that with Sprint, which makes it a hassle and a $35 cost to activate a new phone.
But thing that irritates me the most about Nextel phones is that people feel it is a good idea to carry out entire conversations with the radio feature...STOP IT!!! And if more people (ie the Sprint customer base) get this feature, I think I will be driven insae. If you need to have an entire conversation, just call them instead of repeatedly beeping back and forth in the grocery store! Or at least turn off the sound so the rest of us can't hear it.
I would personally much rather see Sprint teaming up with a carrier that actually has decent coverage in more rural areas. In my opinion, for the demographic Sprint caters to, they should be focusing more on expanding their network off of the major metropolitan areas and putting investment into their own company instead of trying to buy up some non-compatible competitor. What possible good could this do me as a Sprint user?
What will become of Virgin Mobile, which uses Sprint's network? Hopefully it will stay the same at worst or add Nextel's network at best.
"while Sprint appeals to families and teens."
More like Sprint is *tolerated* by families and teens. At least it's cheap.
Just a note, AT&T didn't merge. It was a company called AT&T Wireless. That company at one time did come completely from AT&T, but was diversified before AT&T Wireless decided to merge with Cingular. Today, AT&T is still on it's own. It's pretty small by it's previous standards, and now that Spring is merging I expect AT&T's time is coming.
I know I'm in the minority. But people complaining about NEXTEL's prices don't realize that they're the cheapest option for some people. First of all, free incoming calls is HUGE. As it stands now, my minutes are tapped only for outgoing calls made on the weekday during the day. I have a 600 minute free incoming plan and I use at least 2,000 minutes every month. I'll typically have at least 1200 minutes of incoming calls with the rest being spread out between nights and weekends and prime time. But I have still never exceeded the 600 minutes.
3,000 minutes for $70/mo? I'll take it. It just fits my calling patterns best.
I wonder what possible technology can be used for the 800Mhz spectrum to carry cellular/pcs/what-have-you traffic other than IDEN technology.
The 800Mhz frequencies Nextel uses are the leftovers from the SMR group with channel spacing of 25Khz and are shared with Public Safety and Heavy Industrial (like utilities). It's not a clean contiguous block of spectrum like the PCS carriers have.
This must be a consolidation of companies for other reasons...
All the worlds indeed a
Verizon's InNetwork is the best in my opinion. Free calls all the time to Verizon customers. What we need is a monopoly by Verizon so that all my calls will be free. :o)
AT&T did not merge with Cingular. AT&T Wireless, which had already been spun off from AT&T, merged with Cingular. AT&T is still around as a separate company.
If you can't beat them, embrace and extend them.
According to the Japanese Cellular Phones FAQ cellular phone networks in Japan use PDC (TDMA-like, used only in Japan) for 2G networks and both WCDMA (successor to GSM) and CDMA2000 (successor to CDMA) for 3G networks.
By the way, GSM is the only global standard which has coverage in almost every country in the world:
with a cheap GSM quad-band phone like the Moto V400, you can roam in 212 countries, and you can keep using the same phone by purchasing pay-per-use SIM cards anywhere. Try that with a CDMA or iDEN phone...
Nextel has everything to gain from this.
Nextel has been getting ready to get off of the 800 band anyhow since they are interfering with emergency services. Here's the catch though, Nextel does NOT have the money to aquire a whole new band and no one would buy the old 800 or if they did it would be for very cheap. In comes Sprint and Nextel gets to slowly wean their costomers off of the 800 band onto Sprints without the enormous expense of buying their own band.
Nextel also gets the benefit of Sprints nationwide longdistance. No more need to make other deals for that "FREE" longdistance everyone comes to expect. Realize that the wired end is still very valuable as Sprint is wholesaling it many other companies like Cable providers who are trying to get into the local telephone buisiness.
Also Sprint is wholesaling other parts of its network out, like the 5 year deal with AT&T to provide them wireless serivice.
The only thing Sprint is really getting is buisness customers, which it is salivating over... other than that Nextel is making out like a bandit.
Nextel, on the other hand . . . Best I can tell, Nextel's service has it all over everybody, bar none. They offer network features no-one else can even come close to, and I don't just mean the walkie-talkie thing. Their services and features are actually interesting, useful, and well documented! Almost everyone I know who uses Nextel just loves them. The only shortcoming I've ever even heard of is modest geographical coverage, which, sadly, was the show-stopper for me. So now Nextel's merging with Sprint. What a disaster for Nextel. Both the differences in their technology and the fact this is a merger not a buyout will prevent Nextel from fixing Sprint, unlike Cingular with AT&T Wireless. (The latter really stank; trust me on this.) Sprint's grasping incompetence will suffuse Nextel like red dye bleeding through the laundry, and where we had a big clumsy company and a smaller, really good one, there'll just be one really big, rather poor one. What a shame.
They have had commercially viable PTT for about a year.
But don't worry. Both networks will be maintained for years. You will continue to receive the same service you expect.
I have been with Sprint since Spectrum/PCS started up in 96.
It would be cool if all software companies merge into one huge software company.
It would be cool if all automobile companies merge into one huge automobile company.
It would be cool if all toy companies merge into one huge toy company.
Apply the above four to all other types of industries.
Then, it would be cool if all the resulting huge companies merge into one really, really, really huge company that does everything. It would be so big that nobody would be able to compete against it.
And then, that company would purchase the government, and enslave all the people.
Early on, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, and TracPhone came out with prepaid cellular. AT&T called their's "Free2Go" and "Prepaid Advantage". I was the latter, because the phone was cooler. This was back in 2000.
In 2003, AT&T Wireless One upp'ed and brought out the GoPhone service -- Prepaid w/automatic debit. I got the one w/Wireless Internet.
Now, in 2004, AT&T Cingular are one, and my GoPhone service is little more than a renamed Take Charge service.
My credit? Shot.
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# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
You have it backwards:
Sprint serves mostly corporate clients, whereas Nextel serves mostly families and teens.
It's so awesome that two shitty companies have now merged together! The only reason Sprint "Merged" with Nextel, is because Nextel just got 6.5 BILLION dollars in free bandwidth from the FCC to fix their own fuckups! (interfering with emergency frequencies)
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
yes, because iDen == CDMA.
Oh wait, it doesnt.
So, Sprint/Qualcomm came up with a competing alternative to Direct Connect called ReadyLink, but it's not anywhere near as useful as Direct Connect because there aren't nearly as many other people who have it.
So in the short term, what Sprint is going to do is to make changes on the network side to allow Sprint phones to walkie-talkie with Nextel phones. That will effectively instantly make more valuable both Nextel's phones and Sprint's phone.
In the longer term, Nextel is going to have to move to new spectrum that the FCC has given them due to Nextel phones interfering with emergency vehicle communication. Because of this, they will have to move customers to new phones. So since they have to move their network and swap out their customers' phones anyway, there is no reason that they wouldn't just take the opportunity to move to the significantly more efficient, flexible, and forwards-compatible CDMA 1xRTT (and soon EV-DO high-speed data) standard (that Sprint just happens to run on.
Bingo. Now it begins to make sense, eh?
Try again. You are referring to Clear Pay, a pay-as-you-go style program promoted 3 years ago by "previous management." Yes, this program clearly was an attempt to inflate the total number of "Gross Ads," a measurement of added subscribers over time, which for good or bad is used as a key indicator (along with other indicators like COH and ARPU) by Wall Street to evaluate the carriers.
It *did* achieve its intended short term goal... gross ads ballooned, however many folks were deadbeats. The program has been reduced to a near halt.
I love how everyone loves to dog on PCS. The fact is, their customer care is pretty weak. They outsource it to some real boners. But their engineering is fairly top notch. Know how I know? I have worked with their network architects and engineers for 20 years.
You ever wonder why Verizon uses CDMA? Think for a moment about when they entered the game, and the technology that Sprint had (and still has) in operation at the time. CLICK! Did everybody hear that?? Yes! That was the realization that the core Verizon service in major coverage areas is largley delivered over Sprint PCS's towers, lines and network!
So is Virgin Mobile's! ALL OF IT.
Same with Qwest wireless! ALL OF IT.
These carriers differentiate themselves through market segmentation, customer care, plan and service bundling, and yes, price.
You would think that as detached Slash-dottian engineers, we could be a bit more immune to the marketing and hype, and recognize the physical truths of the system.
... most people don't know that Nextel Broadband [http://www.nextelbroadband.net] uses the *new* iDEN spectrum and employs the Flarion Flash-OFDM technology [http://www.flarion.com] .
;-) /.'ers should know that this merger simply accelerates this service's availability.
The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill NC test market has been 'live' for a year or so, and I am a customer since this past spring. VERY good!! I can surf at 80 MPH. And it's even easier when somebody else is driving
Also, Sprint's tower spacing is better "tuned" for the common frequencies they will end up sharing, and in 90% of cases they are already co-located. The merger will incent them to put up new sites, which is the problem they have now, insufficient critical mass to support the coverage rollout both desperately need.
My only question is how the Nextel side will incent their users to ditch their old phones and move to the new band. The already-in-the-works spectrum swap requires it, so, I just figure people will be given either new phones or a subsidy that allows them to get either a free cheap new model or a big credut to a more feature-rich 1900MHz model.
My understanding was Sprint was coming close to bankrupt in their wireless division? I know personally here where I live in Williamsport, PA Sprint closed down their store, as well as stopped construction on a tower in the area because they said they ran out of funds.... how are they affording to purchase Nextel?
And I don't want one.
What did I expect, it is only available to people if they purchase one of only 4 Sanyo phones.
Magic Eight Ball: Outlook not so good., Hmmm, how about Excel and Word?
I don't understand, are you saying the phone service killed your credit rating, or that your credit rating prevented you from getting a contract plan in the first place?
Man doesn't have cell phone, and insists on telling people.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
That's because ALlltel has COVERAGE, baby! Nextel does not have it.
Vote Quimby!
This seems odd as Nextel just made a huge commitment to NASCAR. I think it was a 10 year contract to sponsor their top Cup division. In addition, they must have spent a ton this year alone branding their name on the NASCAR circuit. Why would Sprint want anything to do with that?
Trevor
Criticize capitalism with compelling details, and you're "baiting flames":
Moderation -2
50% Flamebait
50% Overrated
Flame a critic, and you're probably "Insightful". If I believed the telcos had their acts together, I'd probably think these mods were astroturf.
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Around here (suburban NY) all the families and teens have Nextel (ugh) because the PTT feature caught on. So when I walk around at school between classes all I hear is "BLEEP yo what up my homie?" Not very many people I know have Sprint. I'd say the most popular carriers used in this area are Verizon, Nextel, and Cingular.
Sorry, my karma just ran over your dogma.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
There's really no such thing as an unlocked Nextel phone. Nextel is the exclusive provider of iDEN phones in the United States. I guess you could take your "unlocked" phone to canada and try to get Telus service but I heard they don't allow outside iDEN phones on their network.
I abuse my handsets a lot and they never last too long. Any suggestion on a tough durable handset?
That would all be wonderful. Except the very content of your post is the exact opposite of the heading of yoru post. So your either a troll or a idiot. In the event that you are the later, the very nature of capitalism coupled with greedy investors will not allow companies to reduce their profits. Reduced profits = lower price per share. People do not see beyond the end of their nose in regards to investing anymore. We had a correction to balance out the madness of the dot bomb era. But we are yet to have the correction to balance out the complete polar opposite (which again, was the manifestation of the correction itself). Once we reach the corrections correction, then what you are talking about is possible because shareholders will tolerate strategy. But they refuse to do so right now. They will only tolerate quarter after quarter of consecutive growth AND profit. And really, that is the case because investors lost so much money previously. They still haven't recovered in many cases. If anything, I think the market is worse this year than it was in 03. You are a typical dumb ass Republican.
No, he's saying he was dumb enough to do anything automatic-debit. Giving any company access to a checking account for anything but deposits is just insanely stupid. It is not convenient--it is downright stupid. Why? Because they make mistakes. Where is your money? They have it. How to get it back? Sue us. Suddenly $0.37 for a stamp doesn't look so bad.
-- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak
Nextel offers the best service for me as well (Michigan). I can get service in the middle of lakes near Coldwater where my other various uncles/grandparents/etc cannot get a signal at all. The walkie-talkie feature is by far the best with Nextel. The only bad thing about Nextel really is the ticking noise you near in nearby unshielded speakers even when you aren't using the phone. If anything remotely changes for the worst, I will absolutely be cancelling my service, because I really do not want to be paying Sprint any money. They have horrible customer service and this deal is most likely going to be very terrible for Nextel. I'm not sure who is left after all these mergers, but I certainly wouldn't want to pick up a Verizon phone it its place.
Morphing Software
You are an idiot, Anonymous illiterate Coward. What is the opposite of "capitalism"? Maybe "communism", maybe nothing. Surely a criticism of capitalism is appropriately titled "capitalism".
Then you go on to say "Reduced profits = lower price per share", which is, of course, not true except in economics theory - due to speculation. Which you then decry yourself in your following sentences. You can't even read your own post for sensibility!
By the end of your ramble, you've drifted so far from your brief connection to my post that you're babbling about market performance, as if I claimed it was increasing, when I didn't even mention it. You then outdo yourself by calling me a "Republican", though that has no basis in fact, in my post, or in any way whatsoever.
You are one of the stupidest Anonymous Cowards I've yet seen responding to my posts who can still spell. So your stupidity isn't pure incompetence - you are willfully stupid, and beyond hope. Keep your gibberish away from my posts, or get turned out as a fool again, Anonymous idiot Coward.
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You are between the ages of 18-25 for sure.
It shows on how naive and smart you think you are.
I have to carry a Nextel phone for work, and I absolutely HATE this thing.
The phones are huge, have cruddy battery life, and service (Chicago suburbs & downtown) is horrific. Constant interruptions, lost signal on almost every call, poor voice quality, you name it. I cannot believe they are still in business, at least around here.
If I travel anywhere away from a MAJOR road in Indiana, I have no signal. It's not the phone either, I've already had it checked.
Sprint and Nextel... It'll be a match made in hell.
could be overcome by the diversity of the company's clients
I swear I hear one more thing about diversity overcoming problems, I'll wring someone's neck.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
I can't stand nextel, and I am a Plumber, I've used nextel since they first came out with the 10 lbs bricks that were their 1st phones. In my area they oversold the towers and connection blows, hell I spent 1/2 a day 3 months ago waiting for to get connected to system, full signal and all. And their so called cutomer service, whatever..... yeah they are real nice when you sign up, but when you have an issue with a bill.... that's another story. I pay the bills for a plumbing company and for 10 phones we were paying like $1,400.00 a month..... A MONTH!!!! Screw that, and every time that we needed a new phone because of whatever, like the day a guy dropped his in the porta-potty, 2 Year contract to get a new one..... No, they would not replace it, I had to buy a new one with a New 2 year contract. Whatever, they call themselves the bussiness company.... well that might be true, but not my bussiness.
I went with T-mobile, good bussiness division, no Bullshit... I get what I want now, 20 phones @ Half the cost, better service.
And no more of that embarrasing crap, that beep, then a guy rambleing on that you cannot interupt because it's a one way conversation till he's done yakking. or worse yet, that beep, one of my guys asking "what the fuck is going on with so and so" while I'm in a meeting with people or a woman's present.
Bottom line, Nextel 2 way is only conveniate for the person calling, Not the person that has to answer!!!
And Sprint..... Man FUBAR all the way around, wife had them as her cell phone provider for 2 years, never had a correct bill from them, neet had good service, don't bother leaving a voice mail, Mailing a letter would get to her faster.
Hell I had them for my home phone service till they came out with VOIP, Man that was a Glorious day.....I loved taking Bolt Cutters to that box on the side of my house.... Left them with bear cables exposed to the weather, hehehehehehehe.
I just got my nextel, the beauty of the thing is It's got unlimited incoming calls. I can bet the first thing to go will be that service.
I just wanted to let you know that on the west coast of Florida(Tampa/Sarasota) teens like Nextel even more than sprint. The direct connect feature doesn't use minutes and is a quicker way to get ahold of someone than have to (gasp!) dial their number and wait for them to answer.
I've actually noticed that almost anyone who has to keep in touch with a large number of people on a budget is switching to Nextel, it's true that they are a little more pricey, but the direct connect saves the users from overage charges.
I can only assume that as more people make the switch Nextel will become a more attractive option.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
I haven't a clue how they're going to get around the CDMA/GSM issues, but the truth of the matter is that Sprint has gotten about a million times better about their biggest complaints in the last year. Those were wrong bills and coverage. Now, well, I've had my Sprint phone for well over 4 months and never had a wrong bill, and never dropped a call or been in a place without coverage that didn't make sense (i.e. a tunnel). I don't know much about Nextel, except people use their Walkie-Talkie feature a lot. Sprint has that too, so...
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
In this case, that diversity talk is a nonsensical lie broadcast to the harshest critics of monopoly to lull them into complacency. In general, though, the alternative to monopoly is diversity, the kind of plurality that survives surprise crises through a multiplicity of reactions. Which is why, when the diversity is relevant to the structure, it is reassuring to critics of monopoly. Which, in turn, is why this telco merger is using its style, though its substance is false.
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As far as prepaid is concerned you'll never find a better service than GoPhone as far as minutes are concerned and available features. Infact, GoPhone was SO tremendously popular it caused AT&T Wireless's selling in an indirect way. They had been testing a new GSM customer care system because they knew the current rendition of Siebel could not handle much more than their current GSM subscribers - it wasn't fully tested and suddenly GoPhone popped on the scene and they had to push it out. This resulted in nearly 3 months of lost activations, and consquently ATTWS's buyout.
Fyi tho, Cingular intends on keeping the GoPhone the way it is I do believe.
A couple of months ago, the company I work for switched all the staff phones from Cingular to Nextel, and we've had nothing but problems in the Chicago area. Dropped calls. Garbled speech. And more often than not, we can't reach these people at all. They all have to carry a pager so we can page them to let them know we can't reach them on their Nextels. Disaster.
World's tallest building rises in the desert
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/business/article.adp?id =20041210203609990007
Sprint-Nextel deal talk sparks vendor concern
By Sinead Carew, Reuters
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The prospect of a deal between Sprint and Nextel Communications sparked concerns on Friday about a shrinking U.S. market for mobile network equipment, sending shares of Nextel's key supplier Motorola Inc. down almost 8 percent.
Sprint Corp. is in advanced negotiations to buy Nextel Communications Inc. for more than $36 billion in a mostly stock deal that would combine the No. 3 and No. 5 U.S. mobile providers, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Motorola is the sole network supplier and the main handset supplier to Nextel, and analysts say it has the most to lose as the industry shrinks to four main service providers.
If Sprint and Nextel merge they are expected to operate Nextel's Motorola-based network for another several years but choose technology Sprint uses for future networks.
"Motorola would certainly get a piece of that business on the infrastructure and the handset side but one, it would be a more competitive market so the margins are lower, and two, they would be sharing it," said Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff, who has a "hold" rating on Motorola shares.
Sprint runs a network on standard technology known as CDMA and has plans to start using a faster version next year. Nextel uses Motorola's proprietary iDen technology.
Motorola's President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Zafirovski told an investor conference in San Francisco on Friday that he was confident Nextel would continue to use the Motorola technology known as iDen for the next 2-3 years.
Analysts believe Sprint needs to keep Nextel's network running for several years because Nextel's walkie-talkie style Push-to-Talk feature has a strong following among Nextel's lucrative and loyal business customer base.
CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR MOTOROLA
Nextel has been testing a high-speed technology from a private company called Flarion Technologies. But a Sprint deal would likely mean it does not end up using this technology, at least in the near term, several analysts have said.
Sprint will most likely instead migrate Nextel's customers to CDMA, said Legg Mason analyst Christopher King who believes the pair can save about $2 billion in the next few years by building a CDMA based network for high-speed mobile services.
In the meantime Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder said Motorola is likely to lose out on the equipment side but could win some new business at Sprint by building phones that will work on both the CDMA and iDen networks.
Motorola, the U.S. market leader among handset makers, has been struggling to win back Sprint as a handset customer after being displaced by rivals, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. , in recent years.
Sprint currently uses network gear from Lucent Technologies Inc. , Nortel Networks and to a lesser extent Motorola. A Nextel-Sprint deal could mean more business for Lucent and Nortel.
"In terms of impact on specific vendors. If they combined and went with CDMA that's an incremental positive for Nortel and Lucent and an incremental negative for Motorola," said Tim Daubenspeck of Pacific Crest Securities.
But the mobile network gear industry as a whole will find itself fighting harder for orders from a smaller group of bigger U.S. providers, he said. European countries already only have about three or four large mobile providers each.
Ericsson , the world's biggest mobile network gear maker, recently blamed U.S. consolidation for declining sales. One of its biggest customers, Cingular Wireless , bought another client, AT&T Wireless, in October, shrinking the U.S. market to five national providers.
Daubenspeck said consolidation among service providers could force a merger spree in the
The phones aren't *huge* but they aren't as unusably tiny as some others you can get from other providers, no. What do you want? Phones you can accidently swallow (queue futurama reference)?
I don't think I've ever gotten a dropped call or reception bad enough that I couldn't hear the other person. Its really good for the rural areas too, I think Nextel has the furthest reaching signals and from what I understand, their real big with the farmers. Sprint and Nextel is still a match made in hell though, but its really Sprint I am not looking forward to.
Morphing Software
This happened to me once. State Farm Insurance did the automatic-debt thing anyway two months after I had cancelled it. They ended up bouncing my rent check for me. Gee, thanks.
To their credit, with a couple of days, State Farm had put the money back, plus my bounced check charges and late rent penalty. They even faxed a letter to my landlord saying it was all their fault. But still, it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
World's tallest building rises in the desert
Nextel was going to be to the next great thing when it was rolled out a decade ago. They suffered from the "We have better technology ergo we don't have to do anything else" syndrome. I can't really understand why Sprint would want to pay that much for Nextel's clients. In either case Verizon should buy Sprint and hopefully increase and improve Sprint's coverage area which is the worst of the major cell players. I am a Sprint customer and I experience digital roaming practically everywhere I go.
I actually just got back from Nextel's developer conference (Miami Beach!! Beats the heck out of New York)...and yes. You can control pretty much all the aspects of the i860 via the interfaces in the J2ME dev kit. They've provided access to everything, including the call APIs. You should be able to get dev stuff from Nextel or Motorola's iDEN site.
It's a pretty nice phone to. You're supposed to be able to activate download apps via an iFUN transaction (buying a J2ME app via the wap deck, as from cellmania, for example) and not having to open the download apps J2ME app manually, but I haven't seen that operate yet.
Look out for the i930 thought -- it's an MS "smartphone"
Looks like crap.
It only *seems* like PTT is faster to connect than a cell phone. You still have to scroll through your phone book, push the button on the side (instead of the one with the phone on it), and then wait for the system to actually connect to the other phone. Nextel's "get right through" ads are complete crap. The other phone might be in a bad reception spot, it might be off, it might be busy, and the other person can still ignore your call. It's no different from a regular phone! The only differences to the user are the cost (cheap) and the fact that no one bothers to turn off the speaker for conversations in public areas (annoying).
*Please wait while the NEXTEL subscriber you are trying to reach is located...*
Sprint. I remember them well. They provided my long distance and cell for a year. That year will go down in my memory as 365 days of Sprint pooping on me.
Without gettng into the gory details (heck the poop reference was gore enough) of lousy customer service, poor cellular coverage, overbilling, etc. I will present you with the straw (assuming straws weigh several tons and are made of steel) that broke this camel's back.
My wife was in Macau for a week. When I called her I somehow missdialed or simply forgot to dial the access code we normally used for long distance. The call was thus carried by my normal long distance provider, Sprint. We spoke for about 45 minutes.
When the next phone bill came we found that Sprint charged us over $4 per minute! After my wife pried me off of the ceiling, sedated me and cleaned the angry froth off my chin, I called to complain. The call went no where so I spoke to a manager who promptly suggested that I had been calling a phone sex line! (The nerve! Why would I pay for phone sex when there is so much free pr0n on the web?) The number went to a university in Macau for crying out loud! They could easily see/check that.
In the end, they refused to cut the bill at all and I dropped Sprint, vowed never to use them again and promised to do what I am doing here. Spread the word. Oh, and to get back on topic, I guess I won't be using Nextel either, now.
And once this monopoly kills the competition, they will have no need to have free InNetwork...
Nextel in Argentina is Nextel International. They are no longer affiliated with Nextel as of a few years ago.
Neither nextel or sprint offer the best service here (Kansas City)...It's odd too that sprints world headquarters is here (Kansas City) and you only have to travel a few miles outside the city and you have no service. Can't say as I've ever been too keen on Sprint. Seems as though the only news I ever hear about them is that they are laying people off.
I transfer Sprint phones all the time, not only for myself (I broke 2 phones in the last 2 months) but for family members as well. Not only do they do it for free over the phone, I've walked in a Radio Shack and a Sprint store and had them do it for free there as well - and I didn't even buy the phone from the Sprint store. The $35 fee that you speak of applies only to activating a new service, not a new phone.
To their credit, with a couple of days, State Farm had put the money back,...
Yes, this is to their credit, but I can imagine plenty of companies who will just hold on to the money. For example, my old cell phone company kept billing me for months after cancellation--I dread what would have happened if they got the money directly (I think this is actually part of their business model). I'm sure getting the money back from a hospital or nursing home would be like squeezing blood out of a rock. Add lawyer consultation and exhaustion from arguing, and automatic-debit just isn't worth it.
-- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak
I am not too crazy about Nextel's recent advertising campaigns for their PTT service,
and I wonder if it might have hurt business sales
to those who want to use it as a serious service,
instead of mindless prattle.
From the article:
In a letter to Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, the wireless communications company said it was seeking to end its relationship with Syntech, an authorized independent dealer based in Makati City, the Philippines. Nextel has filed for a temporary restraining order against Syntech, charging the dealer had created the "vile and offensive" sales brochure without its knowledge or consent.
"To say we are outraged and dismayed by Syntech's conduct is an understatement," Lo van Gemert, President of Nextel International, stated in a letter to Mr. Foxman. "You have our sincerest apology for this most unfortunate and regrettable transgression on the part of one of our dealers."
Anyone with just a few functioning braincells
knows this would be suicide to pull a stunt
like this.
Actually, all you have to do is to call Nextel and say you want international accesss, and your Nextel phone will work fine in Canada. I just got back from Vancouver/Victoria and everything worked fine, even the internet!
It will also work in various parts of Latin America and a few other places.
I've been on prepay service for something like 8 years. Why? All the marketing reasons they claim, and I have no credit. No debt either.
:50 conversations.
Went with Powertel initially because they were GSM and had first minute free on incoming calls. I got VERY good at having
Then Powertel got bought by VoiceStream who was in turn gobbled up by T-Mobile. So now T-Mobile is my carrier. This is good and bad. Good because I now have national roaming for free. Bad because T-mobile has only recently gotten a grip on how to handle prepay. For a long time, they sort of denied that they even had such a product and denied prepay users any of the niceties offered to the billed customers. I got the feeling they would rather not have prepay at all except VoiceStream and Powertel had a ton of people using it and spending lots of money so T-Mobile would have been stupid to get rid of it.
So now they have it sorted out so you can refill airtime over the phone with a credit/debit card and that takes all the hassle away. I've been with them so long, I now get a great discount on every refill so my rate is like 12c a minute as opposed to the advertised rate of 35c. I am now in the sweet spot of prepay.
Still, I really would like to have a new phone and not have to worry about minutes. MetroPCS has their CDMA all-you-can-talk plan for $40. But no roaming to mention and absolutely no cache. MetroPCS is the foodstamps of cellphone.
Nextel is NOT the exclusive provider of iDen in the US. Stop perpetuating that myth.
iDen is only the technology they use just as Sprint uses CDMA, but Nextel didn't invent it any more than Sprint invented CDMA. Motorola owns iDen, not Nextel. Motorola is happy to sell iDen to anyone who wants to buy it and there are indeed other companies using it in the US. Right now.
SouthernLinc is a big one. They use the exact same technology and iDen phones plus others that Nextel doesn't offer -and they sell the service to the same business customers that Nextel wants. They are in direct competition in the same geographic service areas.
Now, you are correct that Nextel doesn't allow outside phones on their network -but that alone should tell you that there ARE outside phones out there and somebody must have sold them, i.e. other iDen carriers. Think about it.
That we're going to have to listen to that goddamned chirp even more often?
... AND DIE.
Push to talk
This is why NexTEL's PTT is so much more appealing to a corporate user. They essencialy have all the functionality of a privatized radio band without having to pay for the FCC Licences... NexTel Takes care of that for the company as part of their business model.
Disclaimer: Information used here has been taken from training material furnished by a Sprint Affiliate to be used as a selling point when qualifying a potential wireless customer as to what service would best suit their needs.
if Sprint goes through with this, and doesn't just gut all of Nextel, and offer every one of their customers a great deal on a Sprint phone with ReadyLink, they are completely stupid.
Nextel's network sucks, Nextel's telephone service sucks, and Sprint's ReadyLink works a lot better (albeit somewhat differently) than DirectConnect.
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
I used to work for Amdocs the billing provider for Sprint PCS in Europe. About 2 years back some nutcase decided that they do not want their work to be outsourced to Europe so all the work was shifted to our American centres which is just staffed by shitheads (Nothing against American programmers but given the small margins on telco software the only people the company can afford in the US are the bottom of the barrel) So basically the whole billing system got screwed up and bills were not going out for months. I even heard at one point they were trying to calculate and print bills using Excel spreadsheets. So finally the management called out Mommy and sent the work back to Cyprus where Indian engineers fixed it so now it works.
Just goes to show how companies can get fucked if they think they can somehow reverse outsourcing. The fact of the matter is the cost of living in the US is so high its just not possible to hire good people when the salaries you can pay have to compete with those paid to people equally qualified in India.
The solution reduce healthcare costs. Compared with anywhere else in the world Doctors,Nurses,Medical Assistants and pharmacists get paid ridiculously high wages. In India a computer Engineer will work fewer hours than a doctor and earn 5-6 times more than one. In the US nobody seems to mind paying out of their ass for medical care.
Secondly get rid of Social security retirement benefits. Rest of the world people have children care for them and then the children care for them in their old age. In the US people who have children actually get punished (lesser promotions) and then society expects those children will take care (through SS taxes) of people who were too lazy or selfish to have children.
If you think this will never get through congress as the elderly are a group of people who have all the time on their hands to turn out to vote you might be right
**Life is too short to be serious**
it is a shame that Nextel would do this I hop the FCC puts a stop to it. I worked for sprint z(for a short time period) and that company has major internal issues with the way thay do biz. and it is was borderline breaking the law. If they do get nextel I am going to tell them where they can stick my phone and their early-term-fees. They are taking a choice away not the be owned but some big conglom. of a company.
guess it is time do a bail to t-mobile or cingular...
sprint needs to a MAJOR AUDIT of their internal processes used in callcenters and clean up their act. !
to bad I signed an NDA.... hmm where is a law person when you need them...
Half of the articles I read about this merger mention only Sprint, Verizon, and Cingular/AT&T. What about T-Mobile? Aren't they a player too? I use their service right now and the coverage isn't necessarily the best, but the quality of the calls is good, it's a nationwide GSM network, the plan is affordable, and their customer support staff has been pretty universally friendly and helpful.
Breakfast served all day!
Yes, well we both know that capitalism is evil and that George W. Bush caused the Cubs to lose to the Marlins in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series so that oil companies, Rush Limbaugh, and gun owners could kill minorities. Right Doc?
George Bush Banned my IP Address!
The thing is, of course, the minutes aren't free, they're just paid for by someone else. The problem is that you have no incentive to choose a cell provider that has a low incoming call charge because you're not paying for that call. Thus you get the stupid consequence of a competitive commodity good that still has to have regulated prices. In the U.S., the person who pays for the call is the same person that chooses the provider, thus providing an incentive to shop around.
But if you want the coolest phones, you get T-Mobile. Of course, you'll never be able to make a call without the other party going "What? I can't understand you." but you'll ahve an awesome phone.
I don't know where you're from, but I'm guessing you're not in Southern California. Right now, T-Mobile has one of the best networks out here. It was like night and day when I moved from AT&T TDMA to T-Mobile GSM.
I don't know how things are going to be once Cingular and T-Mobile comb apart their networks, but right now with the continued interop agreement they seem to be doing just fine.
I am just damn glad I'm off AT&T's crappy network, away from their crappy customer non-service, and with the geekiest damn mobile phone company on the planet. The coolest phones is only the beginning. Discount 802.11b service at T-Mobile hotspots, very workable GPRS service, all you can eat data or 802.11b for $20/month. (if you want both it's $40) And also, I can travel to Europe and parts of Asia (not Japan alas) and use my own phone!
Oh yeah: Verizon has a very small local calling area. If I visited my buddies in Santa Barbara and used my phone on VZ I'd be getting hit with roaming charges. My local area with T-Mobile: The continental United States. VZ charges a bomb for nationwide service.
T-Mobile rocks. (No, I don't work for T-Mobile. I'm just a happy customer.)
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I absolutly hate that
"Where YOU at?!"
slogan. What a degradation of the English language.
MAKE YOUR TIME
What makes iDEN so special that it seems to be the only technology one can base a PTT system on?
Both Sprint and Verizon's experiments with this feature have been unqualified disasters, as you note.
+++ATH0
Jews (Ashkenazim, anyway) ARE white.
+++ATH0
Earlier this year, there was a conference (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association or CTIA) which featured a test of the QChat(tm) PTT system. Spear-headed by Nextel, Qualcomm, Kyocera Wireless and Lucent (who happens to be at the core of Sprint's infrastructure), the technology promises cross-platform support. You can read about it here
Given that Qualcomm's Qchat(tm) system is based on CDMA technology (used by Sprint), and is compatible with NexTel's iDEN(tm) network, this should offer some hope to those worried about being forced to part with their current phones. Of course, that remains to be seen. One can only hope for the best!
As with any major merger, one of the keys to success lie in the transition team. All the technology in the world won't help if the decision makers are a bunch of egotistical maniacs, hell-bent on implementing "their" vision (no pun intended on the Sprint moniker) of the direction the combined companies should take. All the while, the customer would be left to suffer at the hands of a lousy tech support staff and billing system from hell (both companies suffer from this.)
I think the implementation of the following features would give rival companies a run for their money:
* Hybrid version of Vision(tm)/NexTel Web that would be cross-platform compatible.
* Cross-platform SMS support
* Unlimited incoming call plans (NexTel)
* Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile (or PCS-to-PCS from Sprint)
* Unlimited PTT (offered by both - hopefully inter-connected via QChat)
* Proper implementation and use of FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) enabled phones to offer upgrades without the need to visit a local store. Newer Sanyo and Samsung phones offer this feature. I believe many Motorola phones have this capability. If not, a small J2ME program should be written to have the firmware downloaded and only run after the checksum is verified. This would eliminate the worry of a lost signal causing damage to the phone. I don't know the details of the FOTA specs used in Samsung/Sanyo phones, but a similar operation should take place as well.
* New feature MUST: Tech support and billing system that doesn't screw over the customer and/or give them the run around!
That's why I said "in the united states" :) Nextel does have subsidaries in South America and Telus in canada maintains a compatable network that uses the same phones as Nextel.
I know iDen is a Motorola product. I've just never heard of southern linc before today. (I had a Cingular phone when I traveled in the regions that had Southern Linc coverage) They appear to be a regional provider because I put in my zip code (which is currently serviced by Nextel) and they said they don't offer any coverage in that area. "We are sorry, based on your zip code choice, Southern LINC currently does not provide service in your area. Please check your zip code for accuracy and re-enter if necessary."
I don't know about all that baseball crap. I do know that the description of capitalism I posted is accurate. *You* claim to be the expert in "evil", so that's for you to say. I'm just realistic: business is business, and morality is a sideshow in it.
--
make install -not war
i HAVE ALWAYS LOVED NEXTEL. I HAVE ALSO ALWAYS LOVED THE DURABILITY AND QUALITY THAT MOTOROLA HAS PROVIDED TO THE NEXTEL HANDSETS.i HAVE STOOD ON MY NEXTEL I 530 WITH ONE FOOT AND NO DAMAGE, i HAVE RAN AN I 500 OVER IN MY 4X4 F150 NO DAMAGE OTHER THAN SCRETCHES. NO OTHER HANDSET PROVIDER DEVELOPES THE DURABILITY OF A NEXTEL. I AM ROOTING FOR MOTOROLA TO SOLELY CREATE THE 2 WAY OHINES FROM THE MERGER ON.
Nah, even though Sprint has bad CS, it's Nextel I'm worried about. It doesn't matter if they've got the furthest reaching signals if they don't even have towers up in an area. Also, while we've had trouble with Sprint CS, Nextel's screwed us over, so they're on the blacklist (the same one AT&T got put on before Cingular bought them out).
I think Sprint wants Nextel's customer base, and maybe some help with their Ready Link feature (their version of Direct Connect). They've got the business features, and the phones.