Both Scottie and Jackie bought one on the same day!

-Frank

Recommended Items for your i730

* A Cigarette Charger for your i730
* A USB Data Cable for your i730, SKU NKN6559A, if you are using Windoze
* Nextel Online--At least Basic Web--won't chew up your Cell Minutes
* At least the $2.50 a Month "Nextel Assurance Plan" (SP?)
* Update your phone to R0A.00.02 by all means possible
* Nationwide Direct Connect included with your plan
* Fancy Ring Tones--Try Intuition by Jewel
* J2ME Applications and Games--Try Bejeweled

The i730 is a GPS-Enabled and J2ME Ready Phone, so you should have all
the beef you need to keep the phone for at least 5 years.

Hehe!  I have trouble believing that a VZW rep would tell you to go
somewhere else, or that a rep of ANY carrier would tell you that.
Unless the rep was disgruntled and on his way out of that job anyway...

If the Nextel coverage in your area is good, then great.  Nextel is
excellent if you never ever plan on leaving their service footprint, AS
LONG AS the footprint is good.  Some areas they cover, but not well.
And the fact that you can't roam in the US with a nextel Phone is a problem.

If you fall outside of their coverage area, then that Direct Connect
immediacy they offer will do nothing for you at all.  And their early
termination fee is exorbitantly high.  I know; I had them for a while,
and service got so bad that I could NOT wait for my contract to expire,
and it became actually a better investment for me to have them fleece me
of $250 and go elsewhere than to ride out the contract and continue to
miss calls or have lousy sound quality in the calls that didn't drop.
And don't get me started on their billing and customer service.  I've
got stories that would have me typing here all day.

A year later after canceling, I got cards in the mail from nextel... "We
want you back!," that boasted improved coverage, better service and more
towers in my area.  So, stupidly, I tried them again.. still no dice.
Coverage was just as bad as before, and the phone, an i90c, would go
rapidly from four bars to no coverage several times a minute, while just
*sitting* motionless on my desk.

Fortunately, I could easily tell this within the first two weeks of me
signing up, so I could cancel my service with no ETF.  Unfortunately, I
was stuck with the then-$299 handset, because Nextel still had their "if
you talk on this phone for more than 15 minutes, it's yours" policy, so
I couldn't return it.  So I pretty much had to "donate" the handset to
one of those cellphones-for-domestic-violence-victims charities and get
a tax write-off on it.  I feel guilty about it, actually; I pity the
poor soul who gets my donation.

Now, YMMV.  But if you get Nextel, take the phone around everywhere you
plan on going with it to see what signal strength you get.  Make a few
calls, but not over 15 minutes, to test it out the first week.  If
coverage is bad, return everything.  If it SEEMS good, then on the
second week, start making more calls and testing it out more thoroughly,
to be sure.  This might reveal trouble spots you hadn't seen before...
if it's bad, this will still give you a chance to cancel service, but
you'll probably end up stuck with the phone, unless Nextel has changed
their policy on the 15-minute rule.

And most importantly, keep DETAILED records of when you sent payments
and how, and make copies of everything.  When I was a regular customer,
they were on a lockbox billing system that frequently posted payments to
your account late, even if you sent the check the same day you got your
bill (AND they cashed it prior to the payment due date) OR even if you
called or logged in and payed with a credit card on time.  So I'd always
get a late charge on my next bill, and I'd always have to call up 611 to
explain the situation.  Fortunately, they never cut off my service for
"late payment" but I have heard of some people who have. The CS reps
knew it to be a "common problem" and would easily credit the late fees,
but it was still a hassle to correct and sometimes they would want
documentation on canceled checks and such to back up your claim.

Please do.  I'd like to see if MAYBE they finally improved, but I'm not
gullible enough to try them for a third go-round. :)