Just like how all things eventually come to an end, and no one lives forever, so too, must phone networks, although I do believe and have a strong suspicion that phone networks are going to be around for a few more generations longer compared to most of us mere mortals. Still, not all networks carry that sense of longevity, as we have received word that the Nextel iDEN network from Sprint is now officially off the air, as Sprint decided to shut it down yesterday at 12:01 a.m. in the respective timezones wherever the iDEN network existed.
In a nutshell, anyone who happens to be in possession of an iDEN device would not have been able to make or receive calls since then, and this would also include access to to 911 emergency services. So far, we do know that the total of sites turned off stood at 20,000, and majority of Sprint’s customers have already made the jump over to Sprint’s CDMA service, or having switched carriers, but there remained a bunch of stragglers who prefered to stay right till the end. Were you one who rode on the Nextel iDEN network in the past, and how was your experience?