I'm not from Cali, but I can tell you our experience of Nextel here in Michigan. I have lots of friends with Nextel, and what I'm finding out is this: 1. The "two-way" actually works about HALF the time, if not less; and 2. I would seriously estimate about 1 out of 3 times I try to call my friends who have Nextel, the call will actually ring on their end. There is NO explanation for this, seeing as they claim to have had perfect signal the entire time I was trying to reach them. One last thing about Nextel is the fact that, also while maintaining a PERFECT signal, drop about 50% of phone conversations that are at least 5 minutes. Once again, there is NO explanation for this. Hope this can help!