Batboard

Guys I am a former Motorola radio yech with 4 years eperience and am looking to switch to the cellular side of the house. Which one is a better employer? I have heard nothing but good things about VerizonWireless, but not much about Nextel/Sprint. It seems Nextel/Sprint has lower standards for hiring and the tech is responsible for more cells. Anyone have any insight? Thanks,Ty.

I have a lot of insight but I'd probably get blasted for saying anything.

Knowing techs from both carriers and I can state that it "seems" the Verizon techs have a higher level of job satisfaction and feel that their employer has a very high stability into the future.

The NEXTEL/Sprint merger really shook up the employee base and a number of field personnel were let go as the workforce was reduced to avoid duplication even though they are still running 2 seperate systems.

I have worked for Verizon Wireless (7 years) in the past. Excellent company to work for. Started work for them at Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems back in 1994. Then the Nynex Mobile merger changed the name to Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile. Then they dropped the Nynex part of the name. After that there was the merger with several different co's across the USA and the name went to Verizon Wireless and they went national. All the time it was a good company to work for although the wireless companies tend to burn out employees with the pace of the industry. After 7 years I had enough and had to make the move to a slower pace....

I don't know about you guys but its been months since I've seen Sprint use the Nextel brand name in any advertising. Maybe it's just here in LA they are doing this

Thanks all for the great info both on and off list. ty.

escomm wrote:I don't know about you guys but its been months since I've seen Sprint use the Nextel brand name in any advertising. Maybe it's just here in LA they are doing this

I still see it, but it's always "Nextel by Sprint."

I sent you a PM FatBoy.

And soon it will be "Nextel, now Sprint"

Say hello to ReadyLink if you have under 100 units..they will be renaming the lod ready link Nextel...You can hear them talking about "NEXTEL is a brand, NOT a system type".

Steve

But how true that is. Nextel is indeed a brand name only and not a system type.

iDEN is the system type.

Enjoying it while we still can.

Anyone heard any updates to the Feds taking over the iDEN system?

readylink is complete crap.....

voice quality is dreadful

Verizon Wireless


They take care of their employees, and working with a lot of former VZW employees, i've heard a lot of good things. These guys had a blast throwing up towers as project managers.


Verizon Wireless is now a 55/45 share distro between verizon and vodafone, its original owner. i'm not so happy about that, but i'm just letting you know if your on the fence...go with vzw.

It now seems I am short as far as the qualifications for VZW. No degree and only 4 yrs experience in 2-way, but have been a ham for 11years. Oh well, maybe Sprint will call. Need to finish my degree.......... Thanks,Ty.

FatBoy wrote:It now seems I am short as far as the qualifications for VZW. No degree and only 4 yrs experience in 2-way, but have been a ham for 11years. Oh well, maybe Sprint will call. Need to finish my degree.......... Thanks,Ty.

Always wonderful to see how the real world bites from time to time. I have no qualifications as a comm tech, but I know my way around a spectrum analyzer well enough to sweep a pair of cans for 900MHz, as well as moving equipment designed for 800MHz to 900MHz and some other bithackery, two years of school in electronics and almost 14 years as a ham, but no, I don't know nuthin' about no radio....

Let's talk about hybrid combiners and phasing antennas, section of coax in length by degrees....

And no, no degree either....

Not for anything, with the constant evolution of technology these days, I would much rather have an employee who was in the field for several years doing practical work then the young lad who just got his degree from the top technical school in the area. Hands on, learning with the change in technology , I would think would be more practical and useful to an employer. At the same time, VZW is a coporate company so I'm sure thats where the degree comes in. My $.02 worth.

Best of luck regardless...

Guys,
thanks for all you help. I ended up getting a job in a 2-way shop here that does a lot of internet sales. Should be lots O fun. See their site below.
Thanks, FatBoy.
http://www.iloveradios.com