I think the equipment you're using makes a big difference in receiption given the same towers around the same location. My BB 8800 gets great reception everywhere in my house except the basement, but my old Motorola V620 (same as V600) needs to be near a window to get perfect reception. And I remember when I switched phones to the V620, I thought the V620 had significantly better reception than my previous phone.

Reception at The Gables is poor to none.

Nextel has little to no reception from the Winchester country club at the Arlington border all the way down Cambridge st. to Donnell Ford at the Woburn border. This nice little black hole is nearly as broad and cuts out from the intersection of Bacon and Main all the way through the flats and over the hill until you get to Lexington. I have used Nextel since they came out nearly seven years ago and the dead zones in Winchester have not changed / improved. If you are depending on Nextel to get in "Done" in Winchester, forget it.