I get a certain phone call a lot.
The caller describes a product without naming it. One button. Press it and talk. No dialing, no ringing, no waiting for someone to pick up. It has to reach a crew across town or family in another state, and it has to work every time.
At some point I stop them and ask: "Do you mean something like Nextel?"
The answer is almost always yes.
If you searched for a Nextel replacement, a Nextel alternative, a walkie-talkie phone like the old Nextel, or just what happened to Nextel, this is for you. The network is gone. The idea behind it is alive, and it does more than you remember.
Why people still miss Nextel
Nextel did two things, and it did both of them right.
It was a cell phone. It was also a walkie-talkie. You could call a supplier the normal way, then press the side button and reach your foreman in under a second. Nextel called that feature Direct Connect. Everyone else called it the chirp, after the sound it made.
Nothing else sat in that middle ground. A regular cell phone made you dial and wait. A regular two-way radio ran out of range a few miles out. Nextel gave you the freedom of a phone and the speed of a radio in one handset.
And those handsets were loud. The speaker was made for a job site, a truck cab or a warehouse floor.
It caught on fast with construction, transportation and public service crews. By the time Nextel merged with Sprint in 2005, it had more than 20 million subscribers in the United States.
Most of the people who call me were there for those years. A lot of them have roots in Latin America, where Nextel was just as loved. They rarely ask for the brand. They describe the feeling of pressing one button and being heard.
The Nextel years, 1987 to 2013
Year | What happened |
|---|---|
1987 | A company called FleetCall is founded to build a phone network on fleet dispatch radio frequencies. |
1993 | FleetCall changes its name to Nextel. |
1996 | Nextel launches its digital network on Motorola's iDEN technology. Phone and push-to-talk now live in one handset. |
1998 | Nextel service starts in Mexico and Peru. Chile follows in 2000. |
2003 | Direct Connect starts going nationwide. One button now reaches coast to coast. |
2004 | The BlackBerry 7510 arrives with email, phone and Nationwide Direct Connect in one device. |
2005 | Group Connect lets you talk to up to 20 people nationwide at once. In August, Nextel merges with Sprint. |
2010 | Sprint announces it will retire the Nextel network. |
2013 | At 12:01 a.m. on June 30, the Nextel network is switched off in the United States. |
2017 to 2019 | The last Nextel push-to-talk networks in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina go dark. |
If your Nextel memories are from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru or Chile, your timeline runs a little longer. Nextel operated there through a separate company, and Direct Connect worked across borders, including between Latin America and the United States.
For families and businesses split between two countries, that was a big reason to carry one. In Mexico, free calls to the U.S. were Nextel's main selling point.
What happened to Nextel
Artistic representation of a Nextel device
People never fell out of love with Nextel. The technology underneath it ran out of road.
The iDEN network was built for voice. It was superb at instant talk and slow at data, and by the late 2000s phones were all about data. After the merger, Sprint was also paying to run two separate networks side by side.
In 2010 Sprint said the Nextel network would be retired. When the final date was announced in 2012, millions of customers were still using it, most of them on the job. On June 30, 2013, it went quiet, and the airwaves were reused for LTE.
The LTE networks that pushed Nextel aside are the same ones that make its replacement possible.
What replaced Nextel
The Nextel name never came back. What took its place for most working teams is a type of device: the LTE push-to-talk radio. You may also see it called a push-to-talk over cellular radio, or PoC radio.
It looks like a walkie-talkie. Inside, it has a SIM card and runs on the same 4G LTE networks as your phone. Press the button and talk, and the other person hears you whether they are across the yard or across the country.
There is no FCC license to apply for and no repeater tower to rent.
Here is how it compares with what you remember.
Feature | Nextel | LTE push-to-talk radio |
|---|---|---|
One button, instant talk | Yes | Yes |
Range | Nationwide from 2003 | Nationwide, wherever there is cell coverage |
Group calls | Up to 20 people | Whole crews, separate groups, or everyone at once |
GPS | In some handsets | Live map of every radio from a dispatch screen |
Wi-Fi | No | Yes, useful inside buildings |
Regular phone calls | Yes | No |
Loud speaker | Yes | Yes |
The extras are new too. Depending on the model, you can get an SOS button, encrypted calls, and the ability to block a lost radio remotely.
One of my callers ran a mining operation in Central America and spent much of the year in the United States. He wanted a flexible way to stay in touch with his crew while he travelled back and forth.
He went with handheld LTE radios paired with a push-to-talk app on the phone.
The pairing works like this. The people who need a tough, loud device in their hand carry a radio. Whoever is travelling keeps the app on the phone they already own. Everyone lands in the same groups.
What sold him was how familiar it felt. It was low-key, his staff understood it right away, and nobody had to learn a new way of working. Press, talk, done.
Where it differs from Nextel
I would rather you hear these from me now than find them out later.
It is a radio, and your phone stays your phone. Nextel put both in one handset. An LTE radio does not make regular phone calls. The usual setup is a radio for the crew and your own phone for everything else.
The phone app is quieter than a Nextel. You can add push-to-talk to a smartphone with an app, and it is handy for managers and people on the road. But modern phones are tuned for sound quality over volume. A Nextel was built to be heard across a job site. If loud matters, choose a dedicated radio.
It needs a signal. Like Nextel, it depends on cellular coverage, or Wi-Fi where there is none. If you work somewhere remote, check coverage before you buy.
The chirp is gone. I can't fix that one.
Want to know what is replacing Nextel for teams like yours?
Email me at [email protected] and tell me three things:
How many people need to talk
Where they work
What you loved most about your Nextel
I read every email and reply myself, in plain English, with what I would look at in your situation.
And if you know someone who still misses the chirp, forward this to them.
Sources
Nextel, iDEN and NII Holdings histories, Wikipedia
Nextel Launches Direct Connect Travel Feature, Phone Scoop, January 2003
Nextel Offers First BlackBerry Handheld With Speakerphone from RIM, press release, January 2004
Tough, reliable Nextel phone, FleetOwner, May 2005
Sprint gives a date for Nextel iDEN shutdown, Network World, May 2012
Sprint plans for end of Nextel push-to-talk, TribLIVE, 2012