IDEN

[Rodion]

Can anyone share their thoughts? I'm kind of a n00b to the whole issue.

[donvito]

Are you talking about NEXTEL and the network they use?

[Rodion]

MYRS. Israeli company, sponsored by Motorola.

[donvito]

Same thing. Motorola holds the rights for IDEN phones and tower technology at least before Sprint Nextel merger here in US. Amigo is the company that provides service in Israels? I remember something along the lines of Amigo Mirs (or Myrs).

Ok to the point, from what I remember IDEN networks are great for short burst transitions this is why their walkie talkie service is great, but for voice calls service can generally be crap. In US Sprint (CDMA like Pelefone in Israel) merged with Nextel and they were rolling out merged technology phones cdma/iden, one for voice the other for two way radio (chirping).

My info is bout 2-3 years outdated, this is what I remember from working and managing a cell phone store, I started with sprint (before merger) and pulled out in time for Cingular (similar to Orange). Hope this helps if you need more 411 lemmi know I can research it for ya a bit, but in regards to Myrs service you will have to go local and ask users around and see how they like it.

[Rodion]

Oh. I actually heard their phone service is pretty good. Well, I've heard a lot of things... thanks!

[donvito]

Another thing to consider is that IDEN (Myrs) phones are not international very few countries have the network, same can be said about CDMA (Pelefone). GSM (Orange, Selcom) on another hand is global granted you have a tri or quad band phone. From what I remember iden works on lower frequency (850) which equals to longer range transmissions (less towers) while sacrificing reception quality. The reason most get IDEN phones is for the radio (chirpie/walkie talkie) feature, I personally don't have enough friends to chirp with. It's great for businesses, military (it was designed for the army, both the network and their phones), police etc... where you can rally and direct your workers nation wide with one button. Motorola phones in general (and you will be stuck with a motorola phone) are crap, but IDEN phones tend to be better quality, more rugged, and durable (military specs), their phones will last. Good Luck with your decision making, and I hope the quality is as good as you say it is.