Nextel $99 Unlimited Cell Phone Use

[jehh]

Have you seen the offer Nextel is promoting?

$99 a month for unlimited air time, 24 hours a day.

What is the catch? I'm not sure, they want a two year commitment and the deal is for 1 year. Their web site doesn't say what happens after a year and I haven't called them yet, but it seems like a good deal.

Any ideas on this one?

Jason

 

[BiggieN]

unlimited local for the first year. then second year is a set amount of minutes but it has free long distance. i think its like 1000 minutes the second...i'm not too sure on that though.

they need you to sign a 2 year contract for $99 a month.

 

[NICKel]

I just dumped my home phone!!! 99.00 bucks a month not bad!

 

[tw1164]

you have to sell your soul for two years though, do you really need 'unlimited' mins?

 

[RossMAN]

It sounded appealing until I saw the "sell your soul for two years" (very true). $99 is a lot and do you REALLY need 2 years of brain tumor incuding cell phone use?

My favorite plan still remains VoiceStream Wireless 2,600 minutes for $39.95 per month

 

[Raju420]

voicestream is 2000 minutes only weekends, sprint is better nights and weekends.

 

[ringzero]

I own a Nextel phone. A Motorola i1000+. I purchased this phone because I had to for work. One of us in our department needs to be "on-call" once a week. The phone is feature rich and is really nice. Currently the plan I am on is $75/mo for unlimited incoming, 500 minutes outgoing. This includes caller id, 3 way calling, call waiting, voice mail, direct connect, etc.

Overall, I like the phone, however it's REALLY finicky with it's connection to the cell towers. if you move an inch, you can lose your connection.

this phones are strictly for corporate use IMHO. Everyone at work agrees that these are way to expensive and for $75/mo + the money to actually BUY the phone is pretty outrageous and that there are better plans out there. But i get compensated for the phone so it doesnt affect me

 

[narciarz]

Ringzero I'm with you man! Phone itself is very nice but you loose signal even if you sit still. I think that Nextel works in the same direction that wind blows.

 

[RISman]

I also own a NexTel phone with all of the bells and whistles, all I can talk for free through my company. It is the Motorola 1000i. I also have a Verizon wireless phone that I pay about $40/month for personal use. I would rather pay to use my Verizon wireless. Nextel service or the quality of its service is horrible. I would think twice about flushing $99/month down the dumper for this service. This is definately NOT a replacement for your home phone and definatley NOT a hot deal, unless you are looking to warm up your temper!!

My .02

 

[DongTran]

I have a Nextel i1000, and service bites. I never use it, even for biz calls. I have a contract with Pacbell with the Home 300 plan, and I cancelled my home phone because I use nothing but my Pacbell, and my bill never goes higher than my base price.

If you're wondering, I pay $39.99 + $9.95 for unlimited Mobile to Mobile, that gets me free long distance, free roaming, and unlimited night and weekend minutes.

 

[Freejack2]

Don't forget, you can't roam with this phone. It is digital only. If you go to an area that doesn't have nextel service it won't work. My work has had to keep my Sprint account active because I find myself at least once a month outside the nextel service area. Other than the speakerphone on the i1000's it's not worth it. I tend to think a digital with analog fallback (dual band?) sprint or similar service phone is the best bet.

 

[cycloscott]

I agree with all of the earlier posts. The service is terrible. I have one for work as well. (Are corporate accounts the only sales that NexTel can get?) It occassionally works at the front of my apartment, but will drop the connection when I move into my home-office. Where the computer is. Where I can actually work on a support problem. Other times I have to step outside to make a call. Or disconnect from my dial-up into work. Gee, now that's efficient.

Run away from this non-deal.

 

[Wooster]

I did go for Verizon with unlimited night and weekend with free long distance. Perfect for calling home in Chicago. I dump my home phone for this deal.

 

[AMD4SPEED]

This deal is OK. I got Sprint's 3000 minute deal for $75 a few months ago. 1000 anytime and 2000 nights and weekends, including long distance and 6 months of free web browsing. I dumped my home phone a couple months ago (I use a cable modem for internet use). I'm hoping I won't get a brain tumor from over usage of the cell phone. My recomendation. Get an extra battery, charger and car charger.

 

[valkyrie]

Also, if you're worried about the brain tumor, why not get a hands-free kit? Works great on my cordless phones, I use it all the time.

 

[Narcosis]

One more quick note about Nextel. Their "Direct Connect" feature isn't all it's cracked up to be. They make it sound like your phones work similar to a walkie-talkie. But the feature doesn't work at all in an area without service. The "direct connection" has to to be authorized first so if there's no towers nearby you're SOL.

Also, be prepared to spend days on the phone if you want to cancel (even after your contract is up). They'll transfer you to the "cancellation dept.". I honestly don't think anyone works there. I spent the better part of a week trying to cancel mine. I finally just stopped paying the bill and let them call me looking for their money.

Anybody want to buy a couple of i1000's??

Yeah, I know. This isn't FS/FT . . .

 

[Doug117]

<< Don't forget, you can't roam with this phone. It is digital only. If you go to an area that doesn't have nextel service it won't work. >>



Ummm... with WHAT cellular phone can you use when there is not a tower in range?? EH? thats what i thought .... NONE!

 

[RDSport323]

Nextel is pretty nice I believe...

I pay $60/month, unlimited incoming calls, 300 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, as well as all the other perks of call id, voice mail, online basic, etc...ive already used up 27000 minutes in the past year on the phone...

yes, the service does kind of suck, but in some areas where other fones can't get service, this one does...

another ANNOYING thing, is I can always predict a fone call when I am either in a car, or near any type of stereo equipment/speakers.. it has that annoying helicopter like sound.. everyone else get that?

 

[jehh]

That happens with my Nokia 2160 phone, the computer speakers or my trucks radio makes a funny sound just before it rings. I have to turn off the radio or my computer speakers to use the phone.

Jason

 

[Sonic625]

I700 here and I get the same thing with the incoming calls. Its kinda good though cause when Im at work and I dont want to take the call I hit end and it stops ringing. I just switched from the 500/500 plan to the 500 Cell/ 100 Direct connect and free long distance and I pay 39.99/month. I was paying $60 for the 500cell/500direct connect.
Thanks,
Sonic625

 

[miniMUNCH]

I have the i2000 which is larger and therefore a little less fun to carry around...

But I got 2 phones for free, no commitment, and $30 a month for each phone for:

500 anytime minutes, free domestic long distance
100 minutes direct connect
caller ID / Call forwards / call-logging
voice mail / text messaging
wireless web
2 lines
3 way calling

The i2000 reportedly works in every cell network in the world...I only personally know that it works in the US, Eastern Australia, and Hong Kong.

No roaming and same phone number anywhere in the world but calls to my phone are billed to the caller as a call to my areacode...so my wife can call me for free when I'm away on business no matter where I am in the world and I only get charged for a local call on my cell phone and the call is free (local) for our home line.

I haven't had any problems with singal strength in the Southern Cal / AZ area. I recently drove from LA to Tucson, AZ and never lost service once.

The speaker phone feature is really nice for conference calls.

I got my deal with friends by haggling with a sales rep...I plan on calling back and try to get free incoming calls too. I only wish the phone was smaller and had voice activated dailing.

 

[Freejack2]

<< Ummm... with WHAT cellular phone can you use when there is not a tower in range?? EH? thats what i thought .... NONE! >>


Umm your missing the point. Sprint dual band phones have analog fallback. I travel a few times a year to Evansville, Indiana which does not have nextel or sprint service. The nextel is useless there, however the sprint phone at least has analog roam so I can still make calls. Though for some strange reason last time whenever it was snowing it wouldn't let me make roam calls. Go figure.

Anyways the point I'm trying to make is if your in a city without nextel service, doesn't matter if they have every other service on the planet. Your nextel phone ain't working. If you don't want to carry 2 phones get a sprint serviced (or similar service) dual band phone.

 

[Doug117]

Yes, you are correct about if there is no iDEN tower there, u aint getting anything, but i'm never out of range of a tower, so i'm happy with my Nextel If your out in the countryside though, then i guess a regular analog cell would do you just fine, even though the static is a pain...

 

[esprit]

Alltel Wireless (ex GTE wireless)

Unlimited local calls, any time - $49.95/mo

I have had it for 2 months now (Tampa Bay Area)

Plan will not expire once you get it and is good for the lifetime of the customer.

Contract is for 1 or 2 yrs, but you can keep the plan and renew your contract once it expires, at the original terms.

--esprit

 

[esprit]

<<Ummm... with WHAT cellular phone can you use when there is not a tower in range?? EH? thats what i thought .... NONE! >>





Very badly thought out comment, if thought out at all.

Just compare the coverage area of iDEN and AMPS technology.
Chances are that once you leave your area, unless your phone supports analog, you will have no signal. Especially with technology not as wide-spread as Nextel's.
Most of the USA is covered by analog signal ....

--esprit