Sprint to shut down Nextel iDEN network next year
- Thread starter crayon
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I was at a colo the other day and the iDEN equipment was all off the air. So it's probably already started.
Sprint had a map up that would show what tower was going to be retuned or shut down. I guess it scared too many people, they pulled the map after about a week and aren't really providing much info on the shut down. I've been watching it just because we use nextel at work. I think Sprint is going to have to improve their 3g coverage in order to keep our business when iden goes away.
Jeff.
Jeff.
902
Member
On the bright side, there shouldn't be any more delays in vacated spectrum availability.
So what is going to happen with the PTT Network?
What does this mean,no phones with walkie talk service
freqs
Member
I work for a Waste Hauling Company we use Nextel .The boss got new radios last week we cant even understand each other on them at all .
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To answer the question of what will happen to the PTT, short answer, it`ll be moving (and already has in most areas) to the CDMA (sprint 3G) network, i now have a newer (sprint CDMA PTT capable) handfset, which has the same feature set i had on my old nextel unit with one VERY nice add-on...more calling flexability and better coverage for calling/PTT/data. Now, IDEN WAS good for some things like calling and PTT, which, i respectfully believe it did really well, BUT, it was a bear for doing stuff like web, apps, and other data intensive stuff (short rant here 
), what they shouldda done IMHO is kept the IDEN side just for calling/PTT, and kept all the other data-intensive thingies (like web, messaging, and sending pics/vidieos) on the CDMA side rather than doing all this, that way they wouldn`t have basically alleneated all the folks that were really into IDEN (i know a few myself from ham radio, and they were totally livid when this first broke). (end short rant ). Just my thinkins`. N9NRA
), what they shouldda done IMHO is kept the IDEN side just for calling/PTT, and kept all the other data-intensive thingies (like web, messaging, and sending pics/vidieos) on the CDMA side rather than doing all this, that way they wouldn`t have basically alleneated all the folks that were really into IDEN (i know a few myself from ham radio, and they were totally livid when this first broke). (end short rant ). Just my thinkins`. N9NRA
I work for a hospital based private transport company. We rely on Nextel, and they took down 2 towers in Philadelphia, more or less crippling us. Sprint sent us 2 CDMA loaners for PTT use evaluation, and it SUCKS.
The Verizon PTT sucks about equally.
whooey
Member
My father in-law said his Nextel PTT does not work anymore in Gainesville, FL.
What about boost mobile
N4KVE
Member
Nextel was a SMR company that gave phone patch service,& thus allowed on the 850-870 band. Since Sprint is a cellphone company on 1900 mhz, have they even been approved to use the 850-870 band once Iden is gone? GARY N4KVE
Pay-as-you-go on the Nextel network. So the service changes apply equally to them. Their newer devices will be CDMA on Sprint.
There's no other nationwide iDEN network for Boost to use. In some small markets little companies are buying the surplus Nextel site equipment and starting their own little iDEN networks.
Having had extensive experience with Nextel (being a former
employee in Corporate Sales and also a iDEN fanatic during the "glory days"
of Nextel) something things folks need to realize about Nextel:
Nextel was initially conceived of as a two way radio service
with phone service as an afterthought. When it first debuted
as FleetCall under O'Brien/McAuley data/mobile web was non-existent
and even basic text messaging was in its infancy.
The Iden network that Nextel had was NEVER designed to handle the amount of heavy data traffic that is in use today. It was designed for Walkie Talkie (Direct Connect) primarily and phone secondarily. It did both of those well but data was always an afterthought.
I remember as an employee tethering my EBP (Employee Business Phone) to my laptop in 2004 using Nextel's Packetstream Gold service at the "blazing" speed of 19200 baud
That was freakin painful!
Heck, I used to do a decent side business of loading personal ringtones/wallpapers on folks Nextel phones back in the day because the phones themselves would not let you do that (Webjal anyone?)
Besides the limited data capability the other thing that doomed Nextel was opening up the service to the pre-paid market through Boost Mobile. Once Boost Mobile came around and became popular the Iden infrastructure could not handle the amount of users on the network and became "bogged down" and overloaded. Service quickly deteriorated and the post-paid (contract) user base became very unhappy.
Add in the fact that Sprint did not have a clear plan of what to do with Nextel or how to integrate it with their disparate CDMA network from the beginning. I can say with firsthand knowledge they had no official "roadmap" or plan of what they wanted to do with Nextel longterm. By the time that Sprint came out with the hybrid CDMA Phone/Iden PTT phones it was too late.
Iden was doomed due to its own data limitations plus its positive Walkie Talkie features being squandered by Sprint.
I still say if it could have been kept online as a PTT (Direct Connect) Walkie Talkie service ONLY it could still be a great (Mostly) Nationwide service today (yes SouthernLinc is in there too).
I will always look back on my days of "hacking" Condor/Falcon Nextel phones using RSS to enable features fondly. It provided me great insight into how iDEN (and radio systems in general) operate.
RIP Nextel and thanks for the fun times!
I will always keep my heavily customized I90c/i95cl/i730 as museum pieces
Marshall KE4ZNR
employee in Corporate Sales and also a iDEN fanatic during the "glory days"
of Nextel) something things folks need to realize about Nextel:
Nextel was initially conceived of as a two way radio service
with phone service as an afterthought. When it first debuted
as FleetCall under O'Brien/McAuley data/mobile web was non-existent
and even basic text messaging was in its infancy.
The Iden network that Nextel had was NEVER designed to handle the amount of heavy data traffic that is in use today. It was designed for Walkie Talkie (Direct Connect) primarily and phone secondarily. It did both of those well but data was always an afterthought.
I remember as an employee tethering my EBP (Employee Business Phone) to my laptop in 2004 using Nextel's Packetstream Gold service at the "blazing" speed of 19200 baud
That was freakin painful!
Heck, I used to do a decent side business of loading personal ringtones/wallpapers on folks Nextel phones back in the day because the phones themselves would not let you do that (Webjal anyone?
)Besides the limited data capability the other thing that doomed Nextel was opening up the service to the pre-paid market through Boost Mobile. Once Boost Mobile came around and became popular the Iden infrastructure could not handle the amount of users on the network and became "bogged down" and overloaded. Service quickly deteriorated and the post-paid (contract) user base became very unhappy.
Add in the fact that Sprint did not have a clear plan of what to do with Nextel or how to integrate it with their disparate CDMA network from the beginning. I can say with firsthand knowledge they had no official "roadmap" or plan of what they wanted to do with Nextel longterm. By the time that Sprint came out with the hybrid CDMA Phone/Iden PTT phones it was too late.
Iden was doomed due to its own data limitations plus its positive Walkie Talkie features being squandered by Sprint.
I still say if it could have been kept online as a PTT (Direct Connect) Walkie Talkie service ONLY it could still be a great (Mostly) Nationwide service today (yes SouthernLinc is in there too).
I will always look back on my days of "hacking" Condor/Falcon Nextel phones using RSS to enable features fondly. It provided me great insight into how iDEN (and radio systems in general) operate.
RIP Nextel and thanks for the fun times!
I will always keep my heavily customized I90c/i95cl/i730 as museum pieces
Marshall KE4ZNR
Sprint cannot turn on the new CDMA systems without STAs from the FCC. The CDMA uses >1MHz per channel bandwidth and the 862-869 band is not set up for that (yet).
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0309/FCC-12-25A1.pdf
Comments closed on 4/30/12 so I would imagine the FCC will change the channel spacing in the not too distant future.
chris
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0309/FCC-12-25A1.pdf
Comments closed on 4/30/12 so I would imagine the FCC will change the channel spacing in the not too distant future.
chris
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2008
- Messages
- 857
Sprint to shut down IDEN
KE4ZNR, you said it so well, couldn`t have said it better. I completely agree with what you say here, as you pretty much mentioned everything i`ve said (and felt) about the IDEN network. I too was a nextel user for a while, and yes, i LOVED the PTT and calling, but as you`ve SO well put it, once they started doing the Boost Mobile thingy the wheels pretty much came off the wagon, IDEN is just too slow to do data in the way folks wanna do it (ask me about the torture of running apps on my Motorola I1...NOT FUN)! You also mention the hybrid handsets they used to sell, i had one, and it was the TOTALLY BEST unit i EVER had, and you`re right, they shouldda kept the IDEN side for PTT only, doing the other data-intensive thingies on CDMA. It`s truly sad that Sprint couldn`t get this right, they had a really good thing and they squandered it IMO. Now i will add, i`ve been using the new PTT service for a while now, and i am aware of issues (seen a few anoying ones myself, not really a biggie for me), and issues asside, i do kinda like the new service, okay it`s not perfect, but the coverage (service coverage) is a smidgen better, i can use my unit for calling (voice...for now ) up at my folks` up north, which was the first reason i got this handset...PTT and data was the second. So, yes i feel bad about IDEN going away, but i have some hope for the feuture, we`ll see what crops up. N9NRA
Having had extensive experience with Nextel (being a former
employee in Corporate Sales and also a iDEN fanatic during the "glory days"
of Nextel) something things folks need to realize about Nextel:
Nextel was initially conceived of as a two way radio service
with phone service as an afterthought. When it first debuted
as FleetCall under O'Brien/McAuley data/mobile web was non-existent
and even basic text messaging was in its infancy.
The Iden network that Nextel had was NEVER designed to handle the amount of heavy data traffic that is in use today. It was designed for Walkie Talkie (Direct Connect) primarily and phone secondarily. It did both of those well but data was always an afterthought.
I remember as an employee tethering my EBP (Employee Business Phone) to my laptop in 2004 using Nextel's Packetstream Gold service at the "blazing" speed of 19200 baud
That was freakin painful!
Heck, I used to do a decent side business of loading personal ringtones/wallpapers on folks Nextel phones back in the day because the phones themselves would not let you do that (Webjal anyone?
Besides the limited data capability the other thing that doomed Nextel was opening up the service to the pre-paid market through Boost Mobile. Once Boost Mobile came around and became popular the Iden infrastructure could not handle the amount of users on the network and became "bogged down" and overloaded. Service quickly deteriorated and the post-paid (contract) user base became very unhappy.
Add in the fact that Sprint did not have a clear plan of what to do with Nextel or how to integrate it with their disparate CDMA network from the beginning. I can say with firsthand knowledge they had no official "roadmap" or plan of what they wanted to do with Nextel longterm. By the time that Sprint came out with the hybrid CDMA Phone/Iden PTT phones it was too late.
Iden was doomed due to its own data limitations plus its positive Walkie Talkie features being squandered by Sprint.
I still say if it could have been kept online as a PTT (Direct Connect) Walkie Talkie service ONLY it could still be a great (Mostly) Nationwide service today (yes SouthernLinc is in there too).
I will always look back on my days of "hacking" Condor/Falcon Nextel phones using RSS to enable features fondly. It provided me great insight into how iDEN (and radio systems in general) operate.
RIP Nextel and thanks for the fun times!
I will always keep my heavily customized I90c/i95cl/i730 as museum pieces
Marshall KE4ZNR
KE4ZNR, you said it so well, couldn`t have said it better. I completely agree with what you say here, as you pretty much mentioned everything i`ve said (and felt) about the IDEN network. I too was a nextel user for a while, and yes, i LOVED the PTT and calling, but as you`ve SO well put it, once they started doing the Boost Mobile thingy the wheels pretty much came off the wagon, IDEN is just too slow to do data in the way folks wanna do it (ask me about the torture of running apps on my Motorola I1...NOT FUN
)! You also mention the hybrid handsets they used to sell, i had one, and it was the TOTALLY BEST unit i EVER had, and you`re right, they shouldda kept the IDEN side for PTT only, doing the other data-intensive thingies on CDMA. It`s truly sad that Sprint couldn`t get this right, they had a really good thing and they squandered it IMO. Now i will add, i`ve been using the new PTT service for a while now, and i am aware of issues (seen a few anoying ones myself, not really a biggie for me), and issues asside, i do kinda like the new service, okay it`s not perfect, but the coverage (service coverage) is a smidgen better, i can use my unit for calling (voice...for now ) up at my folks` up north, which was the first reason i got this handset...PTT and data was the second. So, yes i feel bad about IDEN going away, but i have some hope for the feuture, we`ll see what crops up. N9NRASouthernLinc
One always hears about Nextel in re-banding and now the end of Nextel, but will there be any changes to SouthernLinc? Aren't they iDEN only and did re-banding apply to them also?
One always hears about Nextel in re-banding and now the end of Nextel, but will there be any changes to SouthernLinc? Aren't they iDEN only and did re-banding apply to them also?
dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
On the positive side of things, for those of us who use Sprint, if they change the iDEN towers over to CDMA, we'll have a lot better coverage. There are two Nextel towers in the southern part of my county and no Sprint towers at all. I still get decent coverage but not near as good as I would with a tower right here in town.
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