any suggestions for a good cell phone?

[ksherman]

I am looking for a new phone for my dad. He is a carpenter/contractor, so a good rugged phone would be good. he uses Tmobile and will not switch, so either an unlocked phone or somthing that workd with Tmobile. Thanks in advance!


ksherman

 

[Blazin Trav]

Go nextel then.

 

[orakle]

Another vote for Nextel (Telus "Mike" in Canada). If you want rugged, iDEN phones are the way to go. Unfortunately they're not compatible with T-Mobile.

 

[ksherman]

Plans are no good for him (so he says) and wants to stick with Tmobile...

 

[ksherman]

is Nextel GSM?

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: ksherman
is Nextel GSM?

No, it's currently iDEN only. I believe that after the merger is completed with Sprint-Nextel, they'll be running on whatever protocol Sprint uses... I can't remember what it is for sure, but I think it's GSM.

But, for durability, Nextel's the only way to go.

Andrew

 

[psiu]

Nextel-Sprint will be going from iDEN (current Nextel--offshoot of CDMA) and Sprint (current CDMA) to CDMA 2000 if I remember right.

Definitely not GSM.

And durability, yeah, go Nextel. Specifically for your dad, find him an old i700 plus on ebay. Those suckers are invincible. I have personally dropped one from about 25 feet up onto pavement, and it worked fine. Along with dragging through gravel, bouncing off of rooftops onto the ground, toted around in rain/sleet/snow, splashing beer/pop/gatorade/food onto...

The old i700's are a good weapon too. I think you could hurt someone with them. Looks like you can find 'em pretty cheap on ebay right now.

Otherwise as far as GSM/most-newer-phones and durability goes....I dunno. Those are all flashy and camera/video/pda/videogame and oh yeah a phone all tucked into the smallest cases now. Even my Nextel i60 which I thought was sissy after the i700+ is head and shoulders over my v265 (Motorola/Verizon/CDMA). Even an i60 or i90/95c would be sturdier than most newer phones. I dunno about many of the new Nextels though.

 

[psiu]

Hah, the power of search. Resurrecting old abandoned topics,

:beer:

 

[gar3555]

Nextel, or the old school startac's from motorola

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: psiu
Hah, the power of search. Resurrecting old abandoned topics,

:beer:

I wondered why I was seeing an old topic again

Nextel rocks. Sprint sucks.

'Nuff said.

(Or at least in Columbus, Ohio... I have much better service with my Nextel than friends have with their Sprint phones... and I'm not even going to touch customer service with a 10 foot pole...)