TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
May 30, 2012

Sprint to Shutter Nextel Soon

By Katie Gatto, TMCnet Contributor
When it comes to wireless communications it can sometimes seem that you are playing a game of ownership hop scotch. Unless you have your contract with one of the big three service providers, the odds are good that your company has changed hands at least once in the last couple of years, as smaller companies look to their bigger counterparts for cash infusions and the bigger companies gobble up small ones in a bid to expand or diversify their customer base. Such was the case when Sprint (News - Alert) bought Nextel.

The odds are good that, unless you have had to call Nextel's customer support line since the purchase in 2005, you may not have noticed many changes to your service. That is generally a sign of a strong transition, but now the company is going to shake things up in a big way. Sprint is, according to sources close to the company, getting ready to shut down operations at Nextel.

The reason for the cuts? The company is saying that it is too expensive to maintain two separate wireless networks for the two different types of phones. When all is said and done, the shutdown will move all of the Nextel customers onto Sprint's network. So for most customers there should not be much of an interruption to service or billing. It is mostly the “push to instant talk” feature on Nextel phones that may go dark, though there is no definite word at this moment. The move will occur on or by the 30th of June of 2013. So users who do not wish to transition to Sprint have time to move over to a new carrier.


Edited by Brooke Neuman
» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles