revbuilder
New member
Any service in the western-UP yet? Service usually ends just north of Wausau for Nextel is it any better?
Nextel Service in Northern WI or Western-UP?
- Thread starter revbuilder
- Start date
Only Verizon, US Cellullar, or AT&T work Nextel, TMobile, and Sprint suck they don't work up here. These 3 cell company's are only for people who live in a city and never travel! I have Nextel at work it only works 50/50 of the time in the city, My own personal phone is US Cellullar I travel all over the US I need a phone that works anywhere. I had Verizon it has dead spots too!
miaferominka
New member
My verison had a full signal in rockland, MI, Eagle River, WI
bouncer
Member
skidoodoug
Member
There is no Nextel anymore...only Sprint. Sprint phones with the 2 way direct connect capability will not work in Wisconsin much furthur North than Hwy 8. But, my wife's Sprint phone without the 2-way worked fine around the Minocqua-St Germain area. I was told the 2 use seperate towers. (??)
Nextel is different from other carriers in that it uses IDEN for its network, so there is no roaming possible to the other carriers. Since Sprint purchased Nextel about 3 years ago they have pretty much stopped investing in the network and it is what it is, a "commercial" network for high density areas. Sprint will allow you to move your Nextel service to Sprint for no cancellation penalty, you will have to buy a new phone. Sprint is a decent network, but this is a painless way of getting out of the Nextel service to a carrier that does have roaming. And Sprint does have roaming in the UP, although spotty. ALWAYS check coverage maps online before switching carriers. Also, as a tip, be sure to power down your phone in areas with spotty coverage. If a phone is in a no coverage area it will begin looking for coverage aggressively and will run the battery down very quickly. I use my Sprint phone in the UP but I shut it off when riding as it will go in and out of coverage many times during the day.
It could be that your wife's Sprint phone is using the IDEN (Nextel) network. My CDMA Sprint phone worked in some places of the UP last week, but not all. The IDEN and CDMA networks do not use separate towers, but separate antennas on the same towers. They are not compatible, and cannot roam to each other. This is because Nextel had some rural coverage Sprint did not have, and after the Nextel purchase Sprint added CDMA antennas to the Nextel location towers, like in Wisconsin.
Verizon is also a CDMA network, thus it is compatible with Sprint where roaming agreements are in place.
StreetnSnow
New member
2 yrs ago I switched from Nextel to US Cellular because of coverage in rural markets. They are about as good as it gets short of a satellite phone. I'm often in remote areas on the bike or sled. Nextel was simply horrible outside of metro areas.
felonious_rider
New member
Nextel, 
Not to be a party pooper, but I switched to Verizon from Nextel/Sprint about 5 years ago and never looked back, I was lucky to get a signal after (when going to the UP) after St. Ignace.
Not to be a party pooper, but I switched to Verizon from Nextel/Sprint about 5 years ago and never looked back, I was lucky to get a signal after (when going to the UP) after St. Ignace.
harvest1121
Well-known member
I have Sprint and do not have a problem anywhere up there except the White Pine Area. I could send pictures or text in all the areas. It sent pictures faster in Watersmett then it does in Chicago. YOu just cannot have a phone with the direct connect then it does not use the whole SPrint network.