NexTel Coverage in OKC Metro

[Gilligan]

Hey guys. I know this is not really a scanning question, but it is radio-related and something many of you may know about. How is the NexTel coverage here in the OKC metro? I've been thinking about switching to their service because of the walkie-talkie feature and I want to get an idea how good it is first. I never roam much farther than Moore (south) or NW Expressway (north), and rarely go on the east side of town. How is the coverage? I'm mainly interested in 1) No service, 2) Busy signals, and 3) Dropped calls. I would use the walkie-talkie as much as the phone, which is why I'm concerned. Thanks for any input on this. By the way, I have done my homework and searched this kind of info out already, and there's not much to read regarding customer feedback. Thanks.

 

[dbestfirefighter]

Dont do it..........Service sucks, Customer support sucks, Billing sucks, Calling plans suck. About the only good thing is you get a Malaysiaroto phone, but other companies carry them as well. Run, Run as fast as you can...JM2C

 

[Firecop203]

What dbest said. We were issued Nextels a few months ago and they have been nothing but trouble. We can't wait to get rid of them. We hope that the powers that be listen to us and get something else.

 

[tiawah466]

You might look into speed talk from US cellular. It works pretty much the same. I don't know about coverage where you are at but it works great in the Tulsa area

 

[Gilligan]

You might look into speed talk from US cellular. It works pretty much the same. I don't know about coverage where you are at but it works great in the Tulsa area

I actually have US Cellular and I love it. The coverage is great and customer service is even pretty good. But I don't have a walkie-talkie phone. Something to consider...I could probably get one off ebay pretty cheap.

 

[freqscout]

Ever seen the lag time for the US Cellular walkie-talkie function? You can spit out a 15 second transmission and then be looking at the guy you just sent it to. You can tell him in person and then he will get the message and you will come through loud and clear, just 15-30 seconds later. It is bizarre to see in person as a radio user because it isn't immediate like radio. Dunno if Sprixtel is any different. The store and forward process, it's wonderful....

 

[Gilligan]

Are you saying that it actually records your message and plays it back on their side? No real-time for US Cellular?

 

[iamhere300]

That lag time varies, and Nextel can have it too. It is not a store and forward as
we know it, it is just lag time for the message to work its way through
the system.

 

[KD5WLX]

Realize how it works, and you'll realize the delay. Key up on the W5IAS link system, and listen to yourself on a different repeater and you'll drive yourself nuts due to the "echo effect" - basically, even at "light speed" it takes time for the signal to go from Tulsa to Mannford (input) back to Tulsa (link) to Mounds (output) and back to me in Tulsa. The delay varies based on which machine you're transmitting to, and which one you're hearing.

Now do this with a PHONE - Nextel is not a nation-wide UHF radio. It's a UHF radio to the nearest cell site, then a phone call to the cell site nearest the "other" Nextel user, then a UHF radio again. And it's all done digital rather than analog, so any "weak signals" get buffered instead of getting scratchy, but that adds to the latency. Then you throw in the "real" transit time as well, and you get the delay.

I suspect that much of the digital over phone lines is done with some form of IP packets, making the latency even more problematic during high use times. Anyone on here know whether my suspicion is correct?

 

[Gilligan]

What about Sprint's walkie-talkie service in the metro? Is it any good? It's not yet compatible w/ Nextel.