That is not entirely true, it depends on what area you were in. I was in the Long Island area at the time and most, if not all, nextels were not working. Verizon,AT&T, and Cingular phones were all up before Nextel was, in that area at least. Nextel has the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. They will charge or tax you for every little penny they can get. I think the service sucks, I am switching to verizon when my contract is up. I love when I am talking on the phone and the call just stops and I get a call error. The phones themselves are pretty cool. I just got the i730 and i like it a lot.