Nextel Communications, commonly styled NEXTEL, (formerly traded on the NASDAQ: NXTL), now a part of the Sprint Nextel Corporation, was a United States telecommunications firm operating a nationwide push to talk mobile communications system. Unlike other mobile networks, the Nextel network operated in the Specialized Mobile Radio band using iDEN technology from Motorola. Nextel was one of the first providers in the United States to offer a national digital cellular coverage footprint.
Nextel had over twenty million subscribers in the United States, and by 2006 the company said it served 198 of the top 200 markets. Nextel offered prepaid services through the Boost Mobile brand.
Nextel was headquartered in Reston, a community in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
The predecessor to Nextel, known as FleetCall, was founded in 1987 by Morgan O'Brien, a telecommunication lawyer, and Brian McAuley. The company changed its name to Nextel Communications in 1993. In 1995, wireless industry pioneer Craig McCaw became a significant investor in the company. Mark Warner, now a United States Senator from Virginia, and Jack Markell, the current Governor of Delaware, were also early investors.
The company was originally named FleetCall because it used frequencies designated by the Federal Communications Commission for use in fleet dispatch. The core of the business model was to buy these fleet dispatch frequencies at a substantial discount to the cost for the same bandwidth in designated frequencies set aside and being auctioned for wireless telephone service. These "non-cellular" frequencies were made usable for a consumer and business wireless voice telephone service with the iDEN technology developed by Motorola, which some observers initially said would not be practical. Initially, FleetCall did not want to include the push to talk feature in their phones, but the FCC required it as the initial frequencies were licensed for dispatch use. Subsequently, Nextel used the feature as a key marketing advantage.
In 2003, prior to its merger with Sprint, Nextel had announced plans for its next generation 3G network. It was reportedly to use an extension to iDEN called WiDEN, developed by Motorola. Nextel upgraded their network to support the WiDEN packet data protocol, increasing data speeds up to 90 kbit/s. Currently, the Motorola i465, i850, i860, i870, and i880 are the only phones to support WiDEN without modification. Use of Motorola's RSS software and modifications found at many cell phone forums sites allow users of the i930 and i920 handsets to add the WiDEN service to their phones, which was built into these handsets, but not activated. In October 2005, in order to free up network capacity for cellular calls due to rebanding, Sprint removed the ability to connect to the WiDEN service from all Nextel towers
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ, NASDAQ: VZ) is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It started in 1983 as Bell Atlantic with a footprint covering New Jersey to Virginia and NYNEX with a footprint spanning from New York to Maine that emerged as part of the 1984 AT&T breakup into seven "Baby Bells." Prior to its transformation into Verizon, Bell Atlantic merged with Regional Bell Operating Company, NYNEX, in 1997. The name Verizon is a portmanteau of veritas and horizon, and its pronunciation rhymes with horizon. The company's headquarters are located in the Verizon Building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
I hope Im posting this in the right forum I was thinking about puting it in the nextel forum but I feel more comfortable here
Anyways a friend of mine is on verizon and doesnt want to switch but hes pretty rough on my old vx7000 so he wants a more durable phone. Like the ones nextel makes but he doesnt wat to switch services. So I was wondering if I could get an unlocked nextel phone and have it work on the verizon network. I know its possible but I doubt it will work. I think all nextel phones are iden and I know verizon uses cdma. I have also heard that iden phones are virtually cdma phones but I thought I would see what you all thought before I tell my bud to go shell out 250 buck on a new phone just to have it not work. Ok guys and gals thanks for your help cant wait to see what you all have to say on this one.
