According to information posted on the cellphone discussion website HowardForums, July 9 marked the last day prepaid cellular carrier Boost Mobile allowed new activations of IDEN (Nextel) phones on its network. With Sprint anxious to shut down the Nextel network before the end of 2013, it’s understandable, but this marks the end of an era. Boost Mobile began in Australia and New Zealand in 2000 before coming to the United States a year later, in a joint venture with Nextel.
By 2003, Nextel acquired Boost Mobile’s operation outright, expanding its coverage across much of the nation. Sprint purchased Nextel in 2006, continuing to operate their IDEN network side by side with Sprint’s own CDMA network. Boost Mobile was made a Sprint subsidiary.
Sprint’s current plans include transferring existing Nextel contract customers to their CDMA network by 2013, followed by repurposing the IDEN network bandwidth to improve its new LTE high-speed data network. Boost Mobile will continue to sell prepaid service for CDMA compatible phones.
If you see one of the Boost Mobile starter kits for Nextel phones for sale, don’t bother purchasing it. It’s officially obsolete.
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