sprint nextel merger question

[bestbuyrep]

so, because of the merger, and the fact that I am happy with sprints service but not so much with nextels coverage, with the merger, are the companies combining towers and all? If I get nextel service now, would it become sprint service soon, or are the networks incompatible and will always be seperate?

[WirelessBeachBum]

Originally Posted by bestbuyrep so, because of the merger, and the fact that I am happy with sprints service but not so much with nextels coverage, with the merger, are the companies combining towers and all? If I get nextel service now, would it become sprint service soon, or are the networks incompatible and will always be seperate?

Any phone wou would get now with Nextel would only work on their existing network...the phone/equipment upgrade path is probably the biggest question in many peoples minds about this merger. How integrated will the new Sprint Nextel phones be in the future, in the past Sprint was adding readylink to many of their new models as an option, but since adding iden capabilites will add a significant cost to the handset it's up in the air how they are going to play it...I'm sure they are going to try and make it as customer friendly as possible, to keep churn low.

[Matt]

The networks won't be integrated for some time - it will take a few years to get it all done. In the short term (probably all of 2005) the networks will be separate. I don't imagine there will be discernible service differences at least until after the merger closes, which is projected to be the 2nd half of 2005 sometime.

[larry]

The networks will be seperate for a few years but Sprint will start adding CDMA equipment to some Nextel towers possibly as early as late 2005/early 2006.