My husband and I both have Boost Mobile, which is by Nextel. We got this service after trying Cingular then Virgin Mobile. We do live in a trailer park so thought maybe it was all the metal around. Seems most of the neighbors have some type of Nextel service, I can always hear the "beeps" from the direct connect. At first I had to put my phone in the front window, which faces north. And then I only get MAYBE 3 bars. But if it is a cloudy day, its raining, or maybe the sun is out, I have a hard time getting a signal. NOW, I am having to put the phone in the back bedroom window, which faces south and even then I am not getting but 1 or 2 bars. And unless I sit practically in the window, I cannot talk to anyone. I can no longer even go outside to get a good signal. Not sure what happened in the past week, but it has gotten AWFUL! I agree with one of the other posters: you have to stand on one leg, throw an arm around, stick your tongue out to the left side, jump up and down, then maybe you will get a signal. This is getting downright awful. For as many people that have cell phones, you would think the companies would put more towers up /

Had Nextel for 10 yrs when we moved to the country. Didn't work out here, kept dropping calls. Switched to Verizon, but Verizon is even worse. We had the Verizon phones on 30 day trial, and they worked fine, but after the trial period ended, they nosedived. I don't understand how that could happen. Two other family members stayed with Nextel and get fine reception, but they have different model phones. I'm convinced the phones play a big part in the quality of reception in the fringe areas no matter who the carrier is.