I have sprint and it's pretty good, except it doesn't have quite the coverage that Verison has(but blows away what I've seen from Nextel), and any time I talk there's always a damn delay on the other side, so I'll start talking and before I know it the person on the other side starts talking then starts hearing my voice and it thows them so they stop talking and then I stop talking cause I hear them start talking, so it throws off the conversation.... Minor problem though (which I also deal with on voice-over-IP at times too) and I'm happy with it otherwise
I think the nextel people will benefit as their coverage will get better..
My take on the whole walkie talkie thing.. Yes it's a gimmic, but makes Nextel a ton of money, yet it is annoying as piss when done in the wrong setting. I can see some people liking it though. It's more like having an instant message session online than having a conversation. you can take your time responding and it allows you to multitask a little better I guess. Again, has to be the right setting for it, like on a busy construction site or something, not in your living room or driving a soccer-mom-mobile. nothing that makes me want one though.