jrfdsf2 is right.

The Nextel iDEN PTT system is inherently more reliable than any other cellular-emulation-based PTT system. The PTT side is GENUINE radio dispatch, running on a separate system than Nextel's regular cellular side, and it does not need to travel over the POTS lines.

Go back to the first few days after the 9-11 attacks, when Nextel PTT was the ONLY wireless service of any size that never shut down. Recall then-mayor Rudy Guiliani's ONLY communications device was his Nextel PTT phone, and that the very same phone is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum BECAUSE it was hugely instrumental in Guiliani managing the crisis in the super-critical hours and days right after the attacks, when rescue operations were at their most critical time.

Also, VZDUB, if you do your homework you'll find that it was Nextel that literally GAVE away thousands of PTT handsets and free use of the iDEN network to not only emergency services crews and government agencies, but also to its wireless competition. So your beloved Verizon got back on its feet faster after the 9-11 attacks in part because of the goodwill assist that Nextel provided to MANY agencies/companies that needed it, including Verizon, Cingular, etc.

Verizon is a good company with a very good cellular network. Before Sprint ruined it, Nextel was definitely stronger and more capable for its size; on an apples-to-apples basis, Nextel was mightier than even Verizon.

Don't dis Nextel; recall that the mighty Verizon tried before and failed MISERABLY in its pitiful attempt to copy-cat Nextel's PTT. Verizon was fabulously wealthy compared to Nextel at the time, and over twice its size, yet Verizon failed totally at trying to copy little old Nextel's PTT performance, capability and robustness. That's just one reason that Ivan went for Nextel's jugular, doing everything in his power to try to squash Nextel, because he (Ivan) couldn't stand the fact that Nextel, although much smaller, was in many ways operationally superior to Verizon. But that was all before Sprint came into the picture...