Nextel iDEN: Life On A Dying Network

[VCI_Cell]

Hey guys!

Things sure have changed 'round here over the past few years.

I recently got me an i930 to play with, courtesy of an unnamed but generous longtime HoFo member and friend, and using it over the past few days has helped me decide to keep an active iDEN line going until the bitter end. It won't be my daily driver, of course, but I've never ridden a network into the ground before. I've written the first of a series of articles on the experience. It's over at Pocketnow; if you want to take a look, it's here.

Is anyone else riding iDEN to the bitter end? Who's planning the midnight turnoff parties for next June? Any speculation on what the last market will be that gets the kill switch?

[pattyrn]

I have an old one (10 yrs old) that I keep alive on boost for fun. I ran into a patient last week with a similar iden phone that he has on the unlimited plan, he likes the chirp function and he will ride it until the end.

[fraydog]

That's a good write up. I will be tracking this series as you ride IDEN out into the the sunset.

[pcsfan]

Hey guys!

Things sure have changed 'round here over the past few years.

I recently got me an i930 to play with, courtesy of an unnamed but generous longtime HoFo member and friend, and using it over the past few days has helped me decide to keep an active iDEN line going until the bitter end. It won't be my daily driver, of course, but I've never ridden a network into the ground before. I've written the first of a series of articles on the experience. It's over at Pocketnow; if you want to take a look, it's here.

Is anyone else riding iDEN to the bitter end? Who's planning the midnight turnoff parties for next June? Any speculation on what the last market will be that gets the kill switch?

Sprint has a contract with Motorola to support Iden till the end of 2013.They are being very coy about this and there is really no exact end date for the service.I doubt there will be any turnoff parties in June.

[anex99]

I have a SERO line which I recently turned into a CDMA line (on iDEN before and was my primary line).

I have added a $24.99 iDEN only for sole purpose of iDEN PTT here in San Diego and in Tijuana, Mexico. I will continue to ride out iDEN until the very end,.

[Mackdad]

I am still on my I930. I use this beast for the PTT between NII countries while traveling in South America. Too bad a CDMA / IDEN transition phone didn't come out. I won't be able to transition to CDMA because I will get no service in Brazil and Chile. Since I can't use a CDMA phone while I travel to NII countries, I am going prepaid when the plug is pulled. They have lost a 12 year plus customer.

[IsLand_BoY]

I have a lone i776 on Boost that I will be keeping until the very end. I don't use it much, if at all, it's my extra phone in my glovebox. I remember being on TDMA toward the end too. It's strange to have seen AMPS, TDMA, and now iDEN ride into the sunset.

[fraydog]

Another fun series that PocketNow could do would be "Life On EDGE in 2012" for all the areas AT&T has not yet upgraded.

[scan718]

I have a i335 hard wired into my truck to track it online, i reboost every 90 days,, Damn im gonna miss that free data glitch. guess im going to have to look for another cheep tracking source. (any suggestions?) any way it will be there till i cant get any cell signal.

[sand n suds]

I like the idea, but I struggle to see how your going to develop this into a complete story. I Will check in on it at times though. Thanks

Sent from my N860 using HowardForums

[IsLand_BoY]

Another fun series that PocketNow could do would be "Life On EDGE in 2012" for all the areas AT&T has not yet upgraded.

Hah. Well add T-Mobile to that too then. They're never gonna be able to turn off the old 2G GSM networks at this rate!

Sent via Android

[fraydog]

Almost all the GSM providers are lagging behind their CDMA counterparts here. AT&T is bad but T-Mobile takes the cake for rural GPRS/EDGE.

[IsLand_BoY]

Almost all the GSM providers are lagging behind their CDMA counterparts here. AT&T is bad but T-Mobile takes the cake for rural GPRS/EDGE.

To be fair, T-Mobile is positioning themselves as the "value carrier" so you'll pay less - meaning less rural coverage is going to be the sacrifice. There's a fool in the T-Mobile prepaid forum demanding T-Mobile build out HSPA+ in the most remote areas (he's in one of them) because he's a customer and doesn't care what it costs them. Seriously? They're not going to build/upgrade a cell site to serve 200 people in the middle of nowhere.

I'm on T-Mobile myself and they work great just about everywhere I go, but I do have a TracFone on Verizon for the every once in a while I don't have GSM service, or while I'm traveling.

Back on topic though, it'll be interesting to see what all the businesses do. A couple of my family members work for a major hotel and one property uses Verizon BlackBerries while the other has cheapo iDEN handsets. You really can't beat PTT. Hmm. I'll have to take the i776 out of my glovebox and start using it just for the heck of it. I did notice I only pull 2-3 pars inside now whereas it was always 4 bars before.

[morningpride]

Recently, my local iDEN tower went dark. Located right on a major interstate in suburban Philly. I called Sprint, and they said, "Every Monday and Wednesday, one iDEN site gets shut off. Slowly but surely, the entire network will be turned off." Also, she confirmed that if an iDEN site goes down, "Sprint is not making any major repairs to bring iDEN sites back online". This is bad news for me, as now half my town is dark. And, since I went back to iDEN from CDMA, they will not help me acquire a subsidized handset. Basicly, it was "You are on your own Jack!" It's going to be an interesting ride. Life on a dying network....

[Evan702]

And, since I went back to iDEN from CDMA, they will not help me acquire a subsidized handset.

Why did you go back to iDEN? From reading your posts it *seemed* like SDC was working out quite well for you.