Nextel users.

[Group4Securitas]

Just interested to know how many of you are Nextel users and how do you find their service?

[OccamsRazor]

Me, my family, and nearly everyone I work with use it. Everyone frowns on the guard using a cel, but if they're using the Next-hell, it must be official...Right? :D

I like it okay, but in outlying areas (like where we live), if there's only one tower, you can get bonked (user not available) a lot.

If you get it, and travel to way out-of-the-way places frequently, get a unit with the non-network DirectTalk.

[Michael Ledgerwood]

Nextels are ok. I used one at the last company I worked at and they seemed to be effective. The problem lies in the fact that their output power is not as powerful as that of a radio. If your doing patrol its fine, but if your inside buildings a lot I wouldn't recommend them as there not powerful enough to penetrate several floors of concrete and steel. Also, another disadvantage to them is they combine radio and cell phone. Thats not normally a bad thing unless you got some lower quality officers that will abuse the cell and make calls. I wish Nextel would make an adapter for vehicles that would allow it to be used as a mobile radio (portable radios have an adaptor similar). All in all nextels are a good investment, like everything they have their ups and downs. One piece of advice, if you choose to get nextells make sure their made to mil spec, otherwise they will break easy.

[N. A. Corbier]

One thing you have to keep in mind with Nextels is that half the stuff Sprint is selling is consumer. They (Motorola) makes Nextel gear for public safety applications. You just have to ask for it.

Example: The i3X5 series pushes out 4 watts, has its own "talkabout" mode compatible with other Motorola iDEN public safety radios, and has "priority override" which can knock other nextel users off the trunk to get a clear signal.

I carry an i60 right now, it doesn't operate well in my apartment. The i355 I want, while not looking like a "cell phone" will get out of my apartment easily. Motorola makes radios that think their cell phones, as well as cell phones that think their radios. :)

[Lawson]

I can absolutely confirm that if a nextel is either... A) Falls off the back of your patrol car at the intersection of 22nd and Ruddell road in Lacey WA and is ran over by a car... or B) Falls off your duty belt into a lake on that same day only seven hours later...

They will both be destroyed. :D :cool:

[Echos13]

We were supposed to get them last year but the budget was scraped. :( I see a lot of government people using the Verzion service here. Most of the counties public safety agencies broke thier contracts with Nextel because of the '04 storms. No one could talk to anyone because Nextel had no back up generators for thier towers. The towers survived the storms but not the systems that powerd them. Verizon was going strong the whole time and police and fire were borrowing civillians Verizon talkies to get help at times when they could not find a pay phone or cell that was working.

[N. A. Corbier]

We were supposed to get them last year but the budget was scraped. :( I see a lot of government people using the Verzion service here. Most of the counties public safety agencies broke thier contracts with Nextel because of the '04 storms. No one could talk to anyone because Nextel had no back up generators for thier towers. The towers survived the storms but not the systems that powerd them. Verizon was going strong the whole time and police and fire were borrowing civillians Verizon talkies to get help at times when they could not find a pay phone or cell that was working.

I was told that too. Polk County is going with Verizon Wireless, as well, for their data services. Of course, they're also doing a multi-million dollar revamp of their IT and CAD system, so they can afford to break contract.

[GCMC Security]

Not gonna get into how well service is for nextel just depends where you are, but I will say this, nextel does have it so you can get just the direct connect and no cell service (our duty nextels are like that, don't agree with it and trying to change it) also you can permantly mount a nextel in a vehicle for use as a mobile 'radio' they cell kits for it with a handset and all. They also sell handset to use if you keep it portable (like a radio handset, thinking about buying one if so I will let you know how it works)

[Michael Ledgerwood]

I can absolutely confirm that if a nextel is either... A) Falls off the back of your patrol car at the intersection of 22nd and Ruddell road in Lacey WA and is ran over by a car... or B) Falls off your duty belt into a lake on that same day only seven hours later...

They will both be destroyed. :D :cool:


You weren't going to Hicks Lake were you hehe. When I did boat patrol on that lake, I wore BDU shorts. I was dumb enough to put my cell phone (a verizon) in my thigh pocket. Wadded out several times up to mid thigh to check the boat. Finally donned on me that "oh crap my phone is underwater". Sure enough pulled the phone out and water was pouring out of it. Took the battery off and let it dry out when I got home. Next day, it worked just fine. Never had it get left on a patrol car, but it did get smashed in the van doors at an accident scene once. I couldn't destry that damn thing :cool:

[Lawson]

Yep... :D

My nextel didnt fit on my duty belt, so I took it off and set it on my trunk while hooking up the boat... apparently... I forgot about it. Later that day, I had another one (both PD issued) but I dropped it in the lake while stepping off the boat.

[Mr. Security]

....Most of the counties public safety agencies broke thier contracts with Nextel because of the '04 storms. No one could talk to anyone because Nextel had no back up generators for thier towers. The towers survived the storms but not the systems that powerd them. Verizon was going strong the whole time and police and fire were borrowing civillians Verizon talkies to get help at times when they could not find a pay phone or cell that was working.

That's the problem w/ cell phones in general. When NE had its major power grid failure in 2003, they were worthless. Better have 2-ways as back up.

[N. A. Corbier]

That's the problem w/ cell phones in general. When NE had its major power grid failure in 2003, they were worthless. Better have 2-ways as back up.

The problem with 2-ways is their limited range. They're great if your a single site (Why use nextel if all you're doing is talking to the guy next to you?), but for long range networks spanning cities or states, you need some kind of repeater coverage.

The police and sheriff's radio networks died. They needed something, anything, that worked. So, they used Verizon.

Motorola makes "MotoTalk" capable (Its Talkabout on 476, I think) Nextel radios. They're technically not really Nextels, they're iDEN Public Safety Radios that are Nextel Compatible. The i355 and i375 is a good example of this. Sprint sells them, a Sprint rep tried to shove them down my throat, but I'm kinda sold on em. Cheaper than the bling phones, and look like walkie-talkies, fit in duty radio cases, and more importantly: Pack a lot more wattage than your average user's RAZR.

[OccamsRazor]

Nextels are ok. I used one at the last company I worked at and they seemed to be effective. The problem lies in the fact that their output power is not as powerful as that of a radio. If your doing patrol its fine, but if your inside buildings a lot I wouldn't recommend them as there not powerful enough to penetrate several floors of concrete and steel.

http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/

[Mr. Security]

The only thing that history consistently proves is that people don't learn from past mistakes- Maggie

[Rick51a]

I've had cases where my Nextel wouldn't talk to the one across the room. Several "dead zones" where I work. I personally like the regualr two-way radio system. Much easier to yell for help when I'm fighting, or running.

Rick

[N. A. Corbier]

I've had cases where my Nextel wouldn't talk to the one across the room. Several "dead zones" where I work. I personally like the regualr two-way radio system. Much easier to yell for help when I'm fighting, or running.

Rick

Then again, I've had the same problems with two way radios. It all boils down to, how many people are you going to talk, and where are they?

[Michael Ledgerwood]

Yep... :D

My nextel didnt fit on my duty belt, so I took it off and set it on my trunk while hooking up the boat... apparently... I forgot about it. Later that day, I had another one (both PD issued) but I dropped it in the lake while stepping off the boat.


Haha that is funny. I am sure a certain commander probably had a vein pop out when he found out about that. I remember when a certain CSO first started there it was my job to train him on the boat. He told me he had towed a trailer hundreds of times so I let him hook up the trailer unsupervised. Big mistake. As he was driving down Lacey Blvd to turn onto Ruddell we heard this thump. Turns out the trailer came unhitched from the expedition in the middle of the road :rolleyes: . He apparently forgot to push the lever down locking the trailer onto the hitch.

[Lawson]

Would that certain person happen to have a first name that started with S and ended with N??

[darrell]

I've had cases where my Nextel wouldn't talk to the one across the room. Several "dead zones" where I work. I personally like the regualr two-way radio system. Much easier to yell for help when I'm fighting, or running.

Rick


Rick I totaly agree with you on that. My personal nor my work nextel works in the basements of any of our buildings on Campus. We are looking into getting on the MSP Digital Radio System. We are working on getting money and grants for that..

[Michael Ledgerwood]

Would that certain person happen to have a first name that started with S and ended with N??

Not a first name, but a last name that started with S and ended with N

[Lawson]

Hmmm... drawing a complete blank on that one.

[mh892]

This is not a plug for WallyWorld, Verizon or SimpleFreedom, but may be of interest to someone looking for dependable celfone service.

In spring of 2004 I purchased a Nokia 3587i celfone ($40 at the time) and SimpleFreedom service at WallyWorld. I buy a $20, 80 minute refill card about every sixty days. The minutes roll over if you refill prior to the sixty day limit. Using the celfone on a limited basis, I have a lot of minutes saved up. I have been told the service is thru Verizon.

During Hurricane Ivan and a few other disasters, in several instances my celfone was the only dependable link we had with the "outside world". Not a high dollar celfone and not fashionable service, but it sure has been dependable all over the country.

[N. A. Corbier]

Verizon inherited a lot of Bell and GTE distribution points. They build to GTE and Bell specs, and don't cut corners. They have to, the security of the nation may rest on the availability of the POTS during a nuclear exchange.

Our Plain Old Telephone System has been linked in to the Federal Government with "secret" exchanges (usually in the 900s) since its inception. The Bell Telephone System was responsible for keeping the system operational during the possibility of a nuclear exchange, so that the President would have as many communication options as possible to relay a retalliation or launch order to NORAD.

Even today, telephone company computers recongize the federal Flash Traffic authenticator and will drop all other traffic (voice/data) for a Flash message.

When you have that riding on you for 50+ years, you usually build such things as backup generators, fuel depots, etc. If you've ever noticed, telephone substations and central stations are built of brick, have heavy steel doors, and are always low to the ground. I believe these are vaults designed to withstand an indirect nuclear blast.

Several phone techs have told me that when bad weather hit, they would usually take refuge with their families in "the vault," where the exchange equipment is. They considered it the safest place they knew.

The other cell phone companies didn't start out as local exchange companies, to my knowledge. They were long distance carriers, who weren't responsible for the infrastructure, only long haul lines. So, why would they build so meticiliously with their redundant systems at the local level?

[Will]

I didn't read all the previous replies, mainly because I just woke up and my eyes are still trying to focus :p

I hate Nextel. Can't stand them. The battery power sucks, and the phones in general are crap. I've had 4 company phones (one of them was the i60 and the i730, now have the 830) that always had some sort of problem. Even the newer ones do. Screens will stop working, stuff like that.

Also, the signal is pretty bad. We constantly get "user not available C0" or whatever it is. Or "the nextel customer you are trying to reach is not available. please wait...." oooooooooo that's annoying!

[Arrowslinger]

Just catching up on threads excuse bringing up old threads, just adding my two cents :)

I have t-mobile for my personal cell and nextel issued by my company, the direct connect functions great. But the regular service in certain areas really stinks, two spots I pass going/coming from work "NO SERVICE" for about a mile?

[N. A. Corbier]

Just catching up on threads excuse bringing up old threads, just adding my two cents :)

I have t-mobile for my personal cell and nextel issued by my company, the direct connect functions great. But the regular service in certain areas really stinks, two spots I pass going/coming from work "NO SERVICE" for about a mile?

Does the DC and/or Group mode work in those areas? Also, does your Nextel have a stub antenna or is it one of the big antenna ones? I've noticed that if DC mode works, then the phone is reaching a tower.

It could be that you entered an area that they don't have tower access in. Around here, there's enough interference in downtown from the old brick and mortice buildings that my phone in cell mode hates getting signal. DC mode works ok, though.

[bigdog]

Simple Freedom is through Altell. It a pretty dependable service.Ive never had a dropped call.