Well, if you look at the user ratings in the internet, the i580 (flip phone) is just about the best-liked Nextel phone there is today. I don't know if it is the loudest, but I believe it is considered to be one of the best Nextel phones in recent years.

The newly introduced i365 (bar phone) is a semi-brick, but it also gets good ratings for it speakerphone. It is also one of the few water-resistant ruggedized phones offerd today by Nextel.

Of course, if you don't need the latest fashion phone and you just want it as a phone and for DC calls, then go on eBay and find youself a decent i58sr or i55sr. Those models had superb sound quality, great speakerphones, and better reception than most any of the flip-phones.

And if you're TOTALLY serious anout sound quallity and good reception, regardless of phone size or how dorky it looks, go on eBay and buy an i325IS. this is the "intrinsically safe" model with the long, fixed antenna that is designed to work in mines and other explosive areas. That long antenna gives it great reception. It's ugly, but its all business; the hardest-core of the hard-core Nextel phones.

Good luck!