Before Sprint got hold of it, iDEN was minting money for Nextel. The ARPU and ARPE that Nextel had, up until the "merger", was head & shoulders better than any other US wireless provider. So, not only was iDEN generating approximately 18% MORE average monthly revenue per subscriber than the closest competitor, Nextel iDEN was doing it with approx 40% FEWER EMPLOYEES per subscriber. Made more money, operated considerably more efficiently. How do you arrive at the statement "...let that money-sink die out..."?

Also, at the time of the "merger", the iDEN network was the largest all-digital network in the US. Verizon & Sprint roam onto each other's networks, making them appear larger than they really are; same for ATT, T-Mobile and all the regional GSM carriers. But iDEN stood alone and had no roaming, so in actuality iDEN was the largest all-digital, stand-alone network in the US. Of course since Sprint took over and trashed iDEN and the Nextel subscriber exodus began, and both Verizon & ATT have continued to grow while Nextel has contracted, that's probably no longer true. But it is significant that up until about 2005, the tiny Nextel actually had the largest all-digital, no-roaming network in the US.

A little respect where it is due, eh?