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In what I consider a strange move, Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) said recently that it would begin offering more hybrid phones that work with the older Nextel Direct Connect walkie-talkie feature along with having voice service available with Sprint's current network. As many of you know, Sprint Nextel operates two completely incompatible wireless networks in the U.S. -- a reason oft cited as the main cause of the failure of Sprint and Nextel to fully merge.Perhaps Nextel's network is the only reliable one for the much-needed walkie-talkie service that so many companies and industries rely on. If you're in construction, manual labor or field work, you most likely have experienced Nextel's walkie-talkie service at some point. But, it appears Sprint is indeed trying to keep its two networks separate instead of integrating both into a single, national network with a singular customer base.
Sprint deployed a replacement service to the Nextel walkie-talkie feature years ago called "Ready Link," but the service did not catch on with dedicated Nextel subscribers or even new Sprint subscribers at all. In fact, I would go as far as to say the only worth the older Nextel network has to Sprint at this point is the popularity of its Direct Connect service. Other than that, why on earth would Sprint just kill the Nextel brand and product and put it to rest once and for all? It's already written off almost the entire merger price anyway.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-16-2008 @ 1:23AM
Jody said...
I'm pretty sure the offering of hybrid phones has been a planned step for the networks merging together for a long time.
According to Phonenews.com "Sprint has two voice networks, and is contemplating a third network for their 4G offering. The first is their CDMA network, the second is Nextel's former iDEN network. [...] The iDEN network exclusivly uses equipment from Motorola, with coverage in both the lower 800 MHz SMR and 900 MHz frequencies. Sprint has plans to maintain the iDEN network past 2009, however has not indicated the future of the network in subsequent years. PCS Intel has published several reports concerning the future of the network.
Sprint will begin a gradual of transition customers to the CDMA networks by releasing dual-network handsets that use both CDMA and iDEN. This transistion will begin in 2006 or 2007."
http://www.phonenews.com/phones/index.php/Sprint_FAQ#What_network_does_Sprint_use.3F
Alongside the "hybrid" phones you're discussing here are the "QChat" Phones which are compatible with the iDEN Direct Connect network (so that CDMA handsets can 'chirp' to older iDEN Direct Connect handsets while the older iDEN users transition to the newer CDMA based handsets. (http://telephonyonline.com/wireless/news/sprint-cdma-qchat-0512/)
Contrary to what your article states I believe "Ready Link" was a service offered before the Nextel Merger to compete with the Nextel Walkie-talkie. The reason Sprint did not further push this feature post merger is that "Ready Link" and "Direct Connect" are not compatible technologies and as such would have made for EVEN MORE confusion for an already confusing network.
The upcoming QChat protocal is completely forward (EV-DO rev. A) and backward compatible (communicating with iDEN).
I hope this helps some. :/
-Jody-
7-16-2008 @ 6:43AM
al coholic said...
I used the "ready link" Sprint service a few years ago and found it inferior to Nextel's two way service. Ironically we had moved to Sprint to get away from the abysmil customer service and totally unreadible statements Nextel was famous for.