cellphonesaretools said:
It's a fact that Nextel/iDEN PTT is a genuine radio-dispatch system, very different than the emulators used by Verizon, ATT and Sprint. No other system has yet touched Nextel/iDEN for PTT performance.

What I did not know was how bad Verizon's PTT can be. Your post begs three questions:

1) Was your company's footprint in a rural area where Verizon failed to upgrade their network to properly handle their PTT emulator?

No, the building itself is the problem. Years ago, Nextel hard wired the entire structure with antennas capable of receiving the signal

cellphonesaretools said:
2) After your company chucked Verizon, what did you replace it with? Back to genuine Nextel, or Qchat?

Back to regular Nextel. While we had Verizon, only one part of the building was upgraded to pull in their signal. The local phone company (at&t) balked them for doing this, and the remaining work was shelved. Verizon then proposed a $100,000 alternative to finish. My company told them no and to pack up and leave. Sprint came back in and upgraded what we already had to work even better, and also added antennas to pick up CDMA.

cellphonesaretools said:
3) When iDEN goes away starting in 2013, where do you think the remaining 7 million or so diehard Nextel customers will go?

??? Hard to say. Most of the others went to the other at&t and Verizon before, but that was then ad this is now. As the big two grow even bigger (along with their prices) I doubt that they will continue to retain their enormous custome bases as most people today are looking for value and pricing in everything they buy.