>What I would be on the lookout for is the coverage, they're fairly new, the
>frequency is very high and there are going to be holes. On the main roads
>you'll probably be fine but if you deviate much I would expect holes,
>dropped calls, and a lot of areas of no-service.
It sounded better than the local cell carriers in this area. The phones
have good fidelity and are well built. The units were motorola units and
looked nice. I like the concept behind their service. It could be
expensive, but the dispatch feature is something the other carriers are
not offering at all in this area.
>You're not under contract with them, you buy the phone outright. If I were
>in your shoes I would be tempted to see if you could use their system for a
>month, pay for whatever airtime you use but if you're not happy be able to
>return the phone.
This is an interesting idea. I do not think they offer an option like
that, but will ask next time I speak to my representative.
I was thrilled with the honesty of their salesman and I appreciate how
they lay out all costs and I appreciate their willingness to explain
everything. The other three or four cellular carriers in the
Philadelphia just seem to wish to get your money and run.
>I don't like them because they don't have any free airtime, in my opinion
>calls made at night and on the weekends should be free. Both cellular
>carriers in this market offer plans with that but Nextel doesn't.
no carrier in the Philadelphia offers free air time. You get time you
purchase on your plan, but no free time. After all all of the companies
are trying to make as much as possible. When I lived in St. Louis one
company was offering free time on evenings and weekends. They no longer
do either.
>Otoh, neither of those companies matches Nextel's 24 cents a minute during
>the day.
I am a light user of the celular option. I think I will probably use the
dispatch feature more often. The celular is probably going to only be
used for emergencies.
>day? What about roaming?
Nextel doesn't have a roaming charge. The rates are the same throughout
their network from anywhere. You can make calls locally in whatever area
you are in and you will always pay the same charge as if you lived
there. In this area one can consider Washington DC\.C. local as well as
Baltimore and Atlantic City. This is a far larger area than all the
other companies I have checked out. In other words if my friend Dan were
to drive to washington, he can still talk to me in Philadelphia on the
dispatch function or he can call anywhere in either city as a local call
because it is part of the local DAT. I believe that is the term I was
told.
 * OLX 2.1 * I do visit reality although it's on a tourist visa
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------