I've used 10 phones and probably 5 service providers, and I cannot
recommend Nextel more highly...depending on what you use your phone for.
First, I have to separate the service from the phone itself. The service
is awesome for me. I travel all over the country. I *always* have service,
and my phone *always* rings. Voice mail *always* works just like I'm at
home. I'm not saying that coverage is perfect; there are still dead spots,
but relative to other providers..cough..AT&T...cough..Sprint... coverage
is pretty damn good. Pacbell is pretty good in San Diego, but don't even
THINK about taking it on the road with you, unless you stay in San Diego.

Rate plan is AWESOME. I pay about $150/month, when all is said and done,
and I pretty much use the phone as much as I want. No roaming charges,
and no long distance. It is cheaper for me to sit at home and call New
York from my mobile phone than to use my home phone. BUT... if you don't
use a TON of minutes, Nextel isn't for you. You won't be able to get a
plan that is cost effective.

Now to the phone: I1000+. The good: GREAT battery life. WAY COOL
speakerphone feature. The bad: everything else. Unfortunately, I've used
Nokia phones for years, so I know what a well designed, easy to use
phone is, and Motorola's AIN'T. Want to switch from ring to vibrate?
Easy. Function-9. Huh? I don't use 80% of the features because I can't
figure out the frickin function code for it. The I1000+ adds some features
that the more brain dead I1000 didn't have. It actually SAVES the caller
ID number. The I1000 only displays it until the caller hangs up (!) or
you answer. But even with this "improvement" they still got it wrong.
"Gee..3 new calls. Let's see them. Hmmm... Mom. Was this from today,
or last Friday when she called? Damn. No time or date!" What if there
is no caller ID info? It will happily show you the last number that DID
have ID info. Lame. Don't even get me started on trying to store a number.

Nits: No clock. The phone supports it, but Nextel doesn't. Yet. Not in
any city that I've been in, at least. Allegedly, it is coming though.
Alleged internet access is coming too. The geek in me DOES love the fact
that I can enter an IP address for the phone!!
Bottom line: Great service for a great price makes using the phone well
worth it.



Recommended: Yes