Nextel: "Network Busy. Try Again Later."

[cellular_freak]

Does anybody else have trouble with Nextel and their towers? I just find it so hard to believe that 50% of my calls I make say network busy. I think it's pretty pathetic that I live in a 5,000 population town and their one tower cannot support the people that have Nextel here. I also don't like the fact that their customer service centers are closed by 5 PM on Saturdays and all day on Sunday when people use their phones a lot. Thier logo is supposed to be " Nextel gets things done." Yeah.... I just switched from a company thinking that Nextel was going to be a good company to go to since the only other company to choose from besides Nextel and the one I had is Thumb Cellular which has the biggest monopoly I've ever seen.

[Andy]

If you don't need a local number, you could have switched to VZW sicne they roam for free on thumb, but your digital features would have probably not worked, so I guess this is the best it gets

[Sprint PCS 411]

Go with Cingular GSM plan and just get a GAIT phone then roam on Thumbs TDMA and Verizons AMPS. You will get more mins!

[Runagun]

call nextel and have them write up a network trouble ticket. Explain it to them and an engineer should call u back. Theres a 24/7 number that floats around don't know it off the top of my head. enjoy and goodluck!

Originally Posted by cellular_freak Does anybody else have trouble with Nextel and their towers? I just find it so hard to believe that 50% of my calls I make say network busy. I think it's pretty pathetic that I live in a 5,000 population town and their one tower cannot support the people that have Nextel here. I also don't like the fact that their customer service centers are closed by 5 PM on Saturdays and all day on Sunday when people use their phones a lot. Thier logo is supposed to be " Nextel gets things done." Yeah.... I just switched from a company thinking that Nextel was going to be a good company to go to since the only other company to choose from besides Nextel and the one I had is Thumb Cellular which has the biggest monopoly I've ever seen.

[cellular_freak]

Yeah, now the tower is working like it is supposed to be. But, no, we can't get Verizon Wireless because, yeah they roam on Thumb, but you have to have a Saginaw mailing address or they won't let you have sign a contract. I did file a complaint though with them about the overcrowding on the tower and they said that they were planning to put another tower up in town to ease the congestion.

[Andy]

Well if they keep their promise, everything should be fine
Let us know.

[mindriot83]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak But, no, we can't get Verizon Wireless because, yeah they roam on Thumb, but you have to have a Saginaw mailing address or they won't let you have sign a contract.

I live just outside the tri-cities and wanted to get Verizon's service. Like in the thumb, I can't get a Verizon signal, but I can roam (Alltel in my case). I was told at the Verizon store on Bay Rd. that I could sign a contract, but 80% of my minutes would have to be used on Verizon's home network .

[Steve B]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak Does anybody else have trouble with Nextel and their towers? I just find it so hard to believe that 50% of my calls I make say network busy. I think it's pretty pathetic that I live in a 5,000 population town and their one tower cannot support the people that have Nextel here. I also don't like the fact that their customer service centers are closed by 5 PM on Saturdays and all day on Sunday when people use their phones a lot. Thier logo is supposed to be " Nextel gets things done." Yeah.... I just switched from a company thinking that Nextel was going to be a good company to go to since the only other company to choose from besides Nextel and the one I had is Thumb Cellular which has the biggest monopoly I've ever seen.

I never personally used Nextel except only when I used to work at this one place and they gave me a nextel phone to use for work. I was certainly not impressed and I also hated calling Nextel customers because for some dam reason I always got "please wait while we locate the Nextel subscriber you are trying to reach" or some bull**** message like that. I would have to wait and wait. It sucked.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by mindriot83 I live just outside the tri-cities and wanted to get Verizon's service. Like in the thumb, I can't get a Verizon signal, but I can roam (Alltel in my case). I was told at the Verizon store on Bay Rd. that I could sign a contract, but 80% of my minutes would have to be used on Verizon's home network .

Not true, Verizon has no restrictions on how many minutes can be used off network. They are actually one of the few carriers that do not have roaming restrictions.

[mindriot83]

Originally Posted by Andy84094 Not true, Verizon has no restrictions on how many minutes can be used off network. They are actually one of the few carriers that do not have roaming restrictions.

Could this 80% be only for customers who sign contracts while not living in Verizon's home area?

I left the store scratching my head at this one. I was even told this by two different employees. There is no mention on Verizon's site that there are any restrictions on roaming, as you pointed out.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by mindriot83 Could this 80% be only for customers who sign contracts while not living in Verizon's home area? I left the store scratching my head at this one. I was even told this by two different employees. There is no mention on Verizon's site that there are any restrictions on roaming, as you pointed out.

I have never heard of anything like this with Verizon- the rep you spoke to was probably unaware of Verizon's roaming policies.

[VTEC01EX]

Your Nextel problems are quite typical. They couldn't get it right for the 4 months I was their customer here in downtown Columbus, OH either. The promises of towers never came, so I transferred my contract to someone else and jumped ship. Their support was awful, their coverage was far from the best, and they weren't AT ALL reliable. I hope Sprint turns them around for the sake of everyone that's stuck with them.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by VTEC01EX Your Nextel problems are quite typical. They couldn't get it right for the 4 months I was their customer here in downtown Columbus, OH either. The promises of towers never came, so I transferred my contract to someone else and jumped ship. Their support was awful, their coverage was far from the best, and they weren't AT ALL reliable. I hope Sprint turns them around for the sake of everyone that's stuck with them.

so when did you end up switching to T-Mobile? I didn't notice until you posted this

[VTEC01EX]

Originally Posted by Andy84094 so when did you end up switching to T-Mobile? I didn't notice until you posted this

I switched a few months ago. It was shortly after a friend of mine got a job working for the T-Mo business sales office around here, he was looking for activations, so I helped him out and got way better service in the process. It seriously works better than even VZW nearly all the places I go in Columbus.

[Andy]

I'm glad you found something that works for you, and I'm glad you could help out a friend while getting something better for yourself.

[Rasputin]

My Wife's family is from the Tri Cities Area, in Midland. I was golfing a few courses around there with a few of here relatives, half had Nextel and the good half myself included had Verizon. It seemed 20% of the time the Nextel folks could not get a call through and 10% of the time did not have coverage. I have had great luck with Verizon/Alltel around Michigan. The only areas I have had problem are rural areas North of Torch Lake where Alltel was still building towers and coverting over to CDMA, the coverage in parts of a resort called Shanty Creek near Torch Lake was weak also, especially at a hotel called Cedar River.

[mindriot83]

I definitely think Verizon and Alltel are the big players east of US-127 in Michigan. Their CDMA networks seem to cover the eastern side of Michigan very thoroughly, except for the thumb.

I've heard that GSM is a better choice than Alltel in NW michigan. Nextel seems to be the popular choice in West Michigan, but I've had no problems with Alltel in the area.

[BKKloppenborg]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak Does anybody else have trouble with Nextel and their towers? I just find it so hard to believe that 50% of my calls I make say network busy. I think it's pretty pathetic that I live in a 5,000 population town and their one tower cannot support the people that have Nextel here. I also don't like the fact that their customer service centers are closed by 5 PM on Saturdays and all day on Sunday when people use their phones a lot. Thier logo is supposed to be " Nextel gets things done." Yeah.... I just switched from a company thinking that Nextel was going to be a good company to go to since the only other company to choose from besides Nextel and the one I had is Thumb Cellular which has the biggest monopoly I've ever seen.

I feel you that is why i left Nextel just a week ago thank god no contract! Always bad service here and alot of errors they used to be great but now they are overloaded and suck.. Good luck!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by SBacklin I never personally used Nextel except only when I used to work at this one place and they gave me a nextel phone to use for work. I was certainly not impressed and I also hated calling Nextel customers because for some dam reason I always got "please wait while we locate the Nextel subscriber you are trying to reach" or some bull**** message like that. I would have to wait and wait. It sucked.

I hate that nextel thing about "Please Wait..." too. I'm glad most of my friends & family use other carriers that don't take 20 seconds to realize that the phone is off or out of service range.