My wife and I have used Nextel phones for a couple of years. The direct connect functionality has been very useful in coordinating our schedules to juggle two careers and busy kids' activities.

As a normal phone, the service is sometimes embarrassing. Instead of just ringing, a voice says "Please wait while the Nextel subscriber is located". I personally don't want business callers to get this message... it is none of their business who I utilize for mobile service and the wait is irritating. Additionally, the voice quality is very poor at least 50% of the time. I thought it might be my phone, but I tried several phones with the same result.

Nextel's customer service leaves very much to be desired. Where most mobile companies will let you increase (or even decrease) the minutes on your plan as necessary, Nextel will only make any changes to your plan if you commit to an additional 12 months of service. To top it off, when you do eventually need to cancel your service (as I just had to do), the wait to reach somebody capable of performing the cancel is verrrry long (90 minutes in my case).

I have used Verizon in the past (good phones/quality, but way too expensive) and have AT&T now (good phones/quality, service to-be-determined).

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 100