Nextel

[UncleKyle]

I had a friend from the DIS ask me about Nextel tonight. I work for Nextel and sell the phones to businesses. It got me wondering who knows about Nextel? Anyone have it? How do you like it? Any good stories about how you've used the Direct Connect? I could talk about the product forever, my family and I used it this past weekend in Gatlinburg and loved being able to connect so fast and meet up places, we can't wait to take it to Disney World. I have Direct Connect numbers of dealers in Hawaii that I can walkie talkie with instantly. When I show it to prospective customers they can't believe it. It's so fast. So any thoughts? Questions? Comments?

 

[emmagata]

I use it at work. Both the two-way and the phone. It works pretty well except for the fact that you have to be careful if you've got the two-radio set to the speaker and someone comes blasting through with "colorful" language. Quite embarrassing.

The other thing is that many people don't seem to know about the private speaker on the two-way. The only thing worse than listening to someone talking loudly on a cell phone is listening to TWO people talking loudly on their Nextel two-way!!

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE instruct your new customers on how to use the private speaker when then use the two-way feature!!

 

[UncleKyle]

Oh don't you worry, we stress the private feature with all of our customers, I can't stand it either! We also stress with them to never direct connect someone by just starting out talking. We always tell them to push the button and then wait for the person to come back to them.

 

[Karista]

Where I live, it's harder to find someone that DOESN'T have a Nextel - everyone carries them around. I used to think they were great until one of my best friends got one. I cannot stand to be with her any longer - that thing is squaking constantly. People are always beeping her with stupid stuff, "I'm on my way home, just passed the gas station." "Okay, now I've turned the corner by the pizza place." When I'm talking with her on the regular phone, she's carrying on a separate conversation on her walkie talkie. No matter where we are or what we're doing she is obsessed with this thing. In theory, they are great, but I wish people would use them for the convenience that they are and not abuse them to the point of annoying everyone around.

 

[cinmell]

Originally posted by emmagata


The other thing is that many people don't seem to know about the private speaker on the two-way. The only thing worse than listening to someone talking loudly on a cell phone is listening to TWO people talking loudly on their Nextel two-way!!

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE instruct your new customers on how to use the private speaker when then use the two-way feature!!

I love this feature and this is the only way I use the direct connect. I can't stand to hear people talking loudly on the phone/direct connect and the private speaker eliminates that! We love our Nextels. We took them to Florida with us and it was great being able to find eachother w/ direct connect. We also used them to call home to Boston (free long distance service) and the connection sounded like we were down the street, it was so clear. Nextel is the only cell phone service we've had (and we've had many) that we love and have never had a problem with. I love the phone, the customer service is friendly and we get great reception/connection. My husband receives a great deal on the phones and plans thru his employer so I love that too!

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

Sorry for the stupid question...but I don't even have a cell phone.

If/when my husband goes back to work, we've discussed getting one.............so is Nextel a cell phone or a walky talky? I'm confused. LOL (so what ELSE is new, huh? heh heh)

If it's a cell phone, what's different about it than other cells?

 

[Serena]

It's a cell phone and sort of a walkie talkie. It is very useful. THe company my h worked for all got them for the employees. They had a couple extra so I got to have one temporarily.

 

[dianeschlicht]

DH has had a NEXTEL through work for quite a few years now. He loves it, and I was thinking of getting one too so we could use the direct connect feature as well, but I am on the ATT system, and it is cheaper for me to do that, so for the time being, we wont get to have the direct connect. He does use it a lot from work though.

 

[Big Dude]

One of the greatest inventions ever created. I purchased them for my entire department. Once you get used to all of the functions, they make life so much easier. I really like the voice recognition feature. I have a whole bunch of names and numbers stored on that phone so it is easy to press a button, say a name and the name pops up for me to call.

On a lighter note, there is nothing better to see 4 or 5 people from my group talking with each other when I decide to "direct connect" to one of them. They all reach down to their NEXTEL's like they are reaching for their guns at the OK corral!!! It's quite the site.

Adam aka Big Dude

 

[circus slim]

Many of the technical groups at work have used Nextel. Many of the folks working in those grops are far-flung, geographically, from each other. The Nextel solution was, by far, the most cost effective way for them all to stay in touch while supporting the computer and network systems.

 

[Laurabearz]

We have Nextel as well as some of our friends.... Ours are for personal use, not for business, and frankly we dont use the DC feature very often.... we just call.... Although a few times the DC has come in handy...

I lost my beloved cell phone (I am one of those who has 100's of numbers programed, use it a million times a day....) at WDW last month.... as soon as I realised it was missing, I jumped on my DH's cell phone and DC mine... saying stuff like.... HELP I AM LOST OR STOLEN!!! SOMEBODY TURN ME IN>>>> IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, THE PERSON WHO HAS THIS PHONE RIGHT NOW SHOULD TURN IT IN>>> THIS IS NOT THEIR PHONE< I AM A LOST PHONE PLEASE TURN ME IN.... over and over again... it took 20 minutes for someone to come back and say all was well.... VWL had the phone and they would send it back to me!

SOOOOOOOOOOOO for the above reason I love my DC!!!!

I hadnt heard about the private DC thingy.... can someone explain how to do it?

 

[caitycaity]

dh has nextel through work, and he likes it. anll of the in-laws have nextel for personal use and they like it too. i have sprint and i'm happy with it. i've been with them for a very long time so i have a great deal. i was interested in switching to nextel recently b/c of dc but it was a lot more expensive than what i am paying now.

 

[Lynn CC]

My DH got Nextel for all his employees who need to DC often. He also got one for DS and me, my brother,nephew etc..
We all love it. Here on the Cape there are a lot of areas with no service. It also doesn't work in the grocery store or the Mall, do you know why this is?
I take a verizon cell with me when I go shopping.

 

[S. C.]

I never have trouble with my nextel in the grocery store it always works there too. At work i have lots of people coming over to me and ask what kind of phone i have since i can talk on it on the job, I work in a big auto factory and lots of people have to go outside or close to the door to talk on their phones. All the bosses at work have nextel from the company so there is antennas on the roof of the building.

When we were on the wonder in july of this year our GS was talking to his dad in michigan on DC, almost 3 hrs after we left port canavaral.

We have had our nextel phones for about 4 yrs or so now and love them.

 

[LadyAurora]

DH and I have NEXTEL and, for the most part, love it. We have the usual complaints about "customer service" when you have to call them. We use the DC to talk to each other, and to talk to friends back in IL.
I wish they had better sounding ring-tones....sometimes I am jealous of people with regular cell phones!

 

[Beast]

After YEARS of trying to get our employers to dump the pagers and get us cell phones, the finally did and went to Nextel. They'll never admit it but it was one of the smartest things they ever did. (Maybe the ONLY smart thing they ever did.)

The only thing I don't like about the phones themselves is that if you miss a call, it'll tell you that you missed it but not who it was from!!! And I also agree that the ring and alert tones are REALLY lame.

I thought the DC was going to be great, and it is as far as work goes. But when it went nationwide our company said they would be getting charged if we DC'd someone that was "out of our area". ??????????

If it's a nation wide system, how can they be "out of our area"? And can they actually track where you are sending to and receiving from???

Anyone know?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just ordered one today. Thanks for the info, Kyle and others. Now I have to let DIS'ers know my new number.

 

[Samandmom]

My does not work well in the Mall. I have go outside for it work good. The other DH and I were at the mall and we split up. He was calling me on his Verizon wireless (work phone) and we kept getting disconnected. On the other hand my SIL used the DC with me in the mall and it worked fine. SIL and I used DC in WDW this past April and they worked out great.
DH's work is suppose to get all there employees Nextels. I hope they do it before our trip in February.

 

[UncleKyle]

The Nationwide Direct Connect takes affect when your in your state or "area" and are direct connecting to someone in another state or "area". But if your in a state and the person you are direct connecting too is in the same state then your fine.

But if not then your charged the Nationwide direct connect at 10 cents a minute which is also rounded to the second. So if you have a NDC call to someone for 20 seconds 3 times in a day then your only charged 10 cents. OR you can pay $10 dollars a month for unlimited nationwide direct connect. Basically if you talk more than 100 NDC minutes a month to someone outside your area then you should add the $10. Make sense? If not let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

 

[poohandwendy]

My Dh has nextel, I have verizon (his is free/work)....he is very happy with it. The walkie-talkie part is essential on the sites he works on (construction). But I have to remind him to go back to normal talking when he is at the dinner table and gets a phone call...it just seems weird to be overhearing a phone conversation...

I agree, the tones are annoying...and the only real problem he keeps having is that the little button thingy (on the phone)that attaches to the belt loop holder 'thingy' keeps breaking...then again, he pretty much is on and off the phone ALL day..