Nextel will take its lumps when compared with competitors on data performance, but it deserves credit for focusing on business applications. The company was an early supporter of J2ME (Java 2 Mobile Edition) as a client application-development environment and has been successful in nurturing a third-party application ecosystem. Nextel says it offers more than 70 specialized mobile data applications that are certified to run on its system. Although that number isn't huge compared with some smartphone platforms, Nextel was the only carrier to provide substantive information about mobile apps. Most of these are focused on vertical industries--including construction, field service, public safety and utilities--and its market leadership here may be a lifesaver.
Because of its reliance on Motorola, Nextel offers a somewhat limited range of converged mobile devices. Although all the Motorola iDEN phones support data services, the only full-keyboard, large-screen device available is the BlackBerry 7510.
Nextel is in some respects the most aggressive carrier when it comes to monthly charges for unlimited service ($10 for phones and $54.99 on notebooks), but if you calculate on the basis of dollars per bps, it doesn't stack up as well because of limited throughput. To fully enhance the user experience, Nextel supports both clientless and client-based Web optimization, which it says can boost effective performance up to 3.8 times.
Nextel offers enterprise customers private virtual connections into its network over frame relay, a service that has been available since 2001. However, it does not offer similar connections over VPN. The company provides both private and public IP address options. All public addresses are static and can be maintained by subscribers for as long as they maintain their service.
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