If you actually look at the numbers...the iDEN side is adding subscribers while the CDMA side is losing subscribers. And keep in mind, Sprint advertises their "Sprint" brand like crazy, and barely acknowledges the "Boost" pre-paid side, and no where does it ever mention Nextel as a brand whatsoever. So, despite the lack of Nextel advertising, iDEN outperforms CDMA. Hmmm...and that's with a lousy phone line up on the iDEN side too. Sounds to me like Sprint should focus on promoting itself as Nextel. Then it may actually convince people to buy their products and services and STAY loyal to them, instead of buy and dump. I mean, you don't have a churn rate of 2.17% if you are doing a good job (mind you, that's higher than last quarter). You don't see a drop in ARPU if you keep your post-paid subs happy.

Ah well...what do I know...I'm just a Nextel fanboy.

Google should adopt a new slogan for its Android users...here's my 2 suggestions:

"Google...It's good to be evil"

or

"Android...we're better than good, we're evil"

gravyt:

Agreed. Motorola has actually a ton of phones that it can convert to work on the iDEN network for both Boost as well as Nextel. The problem, however, is (and always has been) Sprint. Sprint honestly fears that a puny 2G network can outperform it's much ballyhooed 3G CDMA network.

The reality is, Sprint wanted Nextel for nothing more than the business customers (which pretty much instantly left the minute the name Sprint was uttered) as well as the HUGE swath of spectrum that Nextel owned in the 1.9Ghz and 2.5Ghz spectrums. So, go figure.

As for this iDEN slider, it's not bad. Would love to see Sprint allow Motorola to follow this slider phone with an actual NEXTEL phone...my preference? Petition Motorola to make the Motorola KRAVE into an iDEN/WiMAX/WiFi phone...and price it around $249.99. I'd jump at it instantly.

Pick me please.

Name, I have to say I totally agree with you.

1. Sprint is a bargain basement company that was able to offer (more or less) decent steak in terms of service. Nextel was a premier company that offered the basics brilliantly, and customers paid a pretty penny for it (and Nextel's customer service was 2nd to none pre-merger). Alas, Sprint purchased Nextel and the vast majority of post-paid losses is on the iDEN side (which are not joining up to Sprint's CDMA side) because Sprint is trying to shove "the Sprint way" of doing business (which has NEVER really worked) down Nextel business customers. The end result is post-paid losses left and right...continuously.

2. Customer Service: um...while there has been improvement to Sprint's CS, the reality is that CS is still pathetic at best. Even AT&T's CS is a full order of magnitude better than Sprint's. Nextel had stellar CS, and Sprint execs nixed it because it...get this..."lacked corporate structure" for tracking what customers called into CS for and how things were being resolved.

3. Advertising: Nextel had a simple message since day one: "Nextel| Done." Nextel KNEW it what it was from day one: a business company servicing business customers. Sprint has NO IDEA what it really is. Is it a data company? Maybe. Is it a wireless voice company? Perhaps. Sprint is completely schizophrenic when it comes to figuring out what its message is to the public. As such, the public has turned to everyone except Sprint. Additionally, this company still has no idea what to do with Nextel as a brand. They promote Boost as a pre-paid, but they don't advertise Nextel (and when they do, you never hear the name Nextel ever mentioned) and only promote Sprint. Yet, the CDMA side lost 300+ post-paid customers. Hmmm...lousy branding is a strong reason for this company's piss poor performance.

4. Lousy handsets: Um...this is a given. Nextel may not have ever had the state of the art handsets, but their handsets were fairly flawless. Sprint gets the Instinct, and it's a complete dud. Sprint gets the Pre, and that looks like it's lack luster at best. Then Sprint gives the newest iDEN devices to Boost instead of Nextel. Bad idea. People will simply leave for greener pastures even if it costs them more, simply so that they don't have to deal with the stupidity known as Sprint.

Sprint...slowly killing itself. Ah well...can't wait for my contract to expire so I can go to Verizon.

BTW, side note: CDMA CAN do voice AND data at the same time. For example, the Palm Pre can allow the user to answer a phone AND continue to download a file at the same time. So network multitasking isn't an issue as some have claimed earlier.

Count me in.

First of all, Sprint does NOT allow for unlimited free roaming. They have a limit of 300 roaming minutes per month, or 300MB of data/month. If you go over that limit in 2 out of any 3 consecutive months, Sprint reserves the right to terminate your service.

Second, HTC's quality is questionable at best. Remember, HTC makes the Pre for Palm. And HTC has a history of quality defect problems with nearly all of their phones.

Third, Android caused T-Mobile to sell over 1M G1 phones. And that company barely has ANY 3G coverage. So, it seems that Dan Hesse is a complete and utter moron. Only after T-Mobile launches Android 1.5 (and the aforementioned 1M+ G1s sold to date) does Dan Hesse finally "consider" allowing Google to have its OS on SprintNextel phones. Here's an interesting kicker though...the first actual Android phone won't be a Sprint CDMA one....it'll be a Nextel iDEN one. So, don't expect the HTC Hero to be on Sprint as an Android-based phone...at least not yet. Motorola has already launched an AndroidOS-iDEN phone for their Israeli iDEN service provider, and I suspect that its success is what Sprint has been looking at...and that phone will come to Nextel folks probably within the next 3 to 6 months. Mark it.

Would love to get this for my PS3...hook a brotha up.

Pick me pretty please.

Pick me??? For once pick me??? I'm desperate. ;)