Chasers and NEXTEL?

[Brett Adair]

Any of you use nextel? It's pretty nice to have group talk for chasing but I believe coverage is spotty in the plains. Nice in my area to chat with the NWS and EMA.

 

[Tom Tackett]

I have NEXTEL and their coverage away from the big cities and the Interstate Highways stinksssssssss! Hopefully, with the merge of Nextel and Sprint, their coverage / network will improve dramatically. That is just speculation on my part though.

I have made several trips to the Texas Panhandle from the Dallas / Fort Worth area this year and once you get past Wichita Falls, Texas on U.S. Highway 287, there is no coverage between Wichita Falls and Amarillo. There is only coverage within a 20-mile radius of Amarillo except along Interstate Highway 27 between Amarillo and Lubbock.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Cingular is coming out with PTT very soon. Typically, with PTT, coverage is pretty spotty (NEXTEL/Sprint coverage is largely confined to interstates or large population areas). Cingular's adoption of their own PTT system may expand this possibility, but it'd probably only work on Cingular-owned towers. A lot of Cingular's coverage is with the help of roaming contracts with other cell providers (T-Mobile, etc), as is common with other wireless providers, so their PTT system still won't (likely) be Plains-wide. Cingular's coverage has rapidly expanded in Kansas in the past 3-6 months, however. Sorry to turn this into a Cingular post, but I don't know much about Nextel or PTT other than Cingular's soon-to-be adopted PTT system.

 

[David Schuttler]

Verizion will be putting towers up around Tulsa soon, not sure how much they plan to expand around here.

 

[Anthony Silver]

I also use Nextel...and it's pretty worthless unless you're near a bigger city or town where there's more towers nearby. I used their dashboard Internet service this past year for my laptop on the road, and I lost signal many of times when trying to access my radar programs in open country. I heard Verizon and T-Mobile are better options for signal strength, so I might look into those next year.

 

[SteveCarter]

Try Cingular, it can't be beat. I was chasing in June through Kansas and Oklahoma, and was able to use my laptop everywhere I went, by using my cell phone. There were a couple of VERY remote areas that my signal faded out, but otherwise, it was great.

 

[Anthony Silver]

I would switch to Cingular, but I still owe them like $600 from when they were Southwestern Bell Wireless (still in dispute over a cancellation charge, it's a long story!). I'll most likely be going with Verizon if I decide to switch in the Spring.

My Nextel phone has it's pros and cons. It's fine when I use it for chase and work purposes in the city, but beyond that, you might as well throw it out the window and run over it a few times. The rates are also pretty expensive. I think I paid an additional $60 a month for the unlimited Internet access, which was downright ridiculous. I know that T-Mobile and Verizon's plans are MUCH cheaper.

My main reason for subscribing to Nextel was the direct connect feature. I use it all of the time for personal and work reasons, and find it very convenient. I just wish some of the other resonably priced wireless providers would go to that.

 

[Brett Adair]

I have had T-Mobile and I know they have some of the worst and slowest internet service I have ever used on the road. I have heard that Cingular has a rather fast connection, and that is something that you need if you are on the road.

 

[Shoen Tripp]

Nextel and group connect for storm chasing and spotting

I have been a Nextel user for three years and very happy with it and now with the new group-connect, I have my own weather/ storm group to take discussions with nextel's digital two-way radio instead of my old Yahoo groups.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

I have NEXTEL and their coverage away from the big cities and the Interstate Highways stinksssssssss! Hopefully, with the merge of Nextel and Sprint, their coverage / network will improve dramatically. That is just speculation on my part though.

I have made several trips to the Texas Panhandle from the Dallas / Fort Worth area this year and once you get past Wichita Falls, Texas on U.S. Highway 287, there is no coverage between Wichita Falls and Amarillo. There is only coverage within a 20-mile radius of Amarillo except along Interstate Highway 27 between Amarillo and Lubbock.

The problem with coverage won’t get any better due to the merger with Sprint, for Sprint also stinks unless you’re in town, and/or on a major freeway. Sprint placed their towers in relatively the same place as Nextel placed theirs. I have Cingualar and so far I have had outstanding success. FYI: if you have a Treo 650, it does have the "walkie-talkie" feature, and Cingular is currently establishing their own version of cost 2 cost 2-way service, sort of like Nextel, only there will be a much better coverage.
(I work at Best Buy, in the Digital Imaging and Video departments as well as the Wireless [cell phones {Sprint and Cingular}] and MP3 departments, so if you guys have any questions about products in either sections feel free to pm.)

 

[SteveCarter]

I'm a little biased in this...I own several exclusive Cingular stores, BUT.....I would still switch if I couldn't get my signals for my laptop though. Cingular has GREAT signal strength from here in SC all the way through the lower Mississippi Valley, through the Plains, and just about everywhere I've been. What makes Cingular so good is that they use other providers towers. I have the unlimited internet, so I don't have to worry about the costs, and also have weather alert, which texts me if a new warning or watch is issued. However, the weather alert I use has it's problems, as I get texts for a "fog" alert as well. That is something I need to try and resolve. There is nothing worse, than having your signal go out, about the time you REALLY need a satellite or radar image. To give credit where credit is due, I have also used Verizon, and it seemed to be better than all the others, except for Cingular, which were close. Sprint was the absolute worse, unless you're chasing inside a city! lol Anyway, hope this helped a little.