Nextel Communications, Inc. offered postpaid services under the Nextel brand and prepaid services under the Boost Mobile brand. The Nextel network was officially shut down at 12:01 a.m. on June 30, 2013, and Sprint is currently deploying LTE equipment on the 800 MHz spectrum formerly used by the iDEN network.

Beside above, why did they get rid of Nextel? Sprint shut down the old Nextel network in 2013 so they could re-use those radio frequencies for LTE coverage. None of the remaining networks have the push-to-talk feature built-in. None of the remaining networks have the push-to-talk feature built-in.

In this regard, can I use my old Nextel phone?

Sprint has killied the Nextel Motorola iDEN network in the United States. Thats too bad, but if you have a pair of Nextel phones you can turn them into very good two way radios that will function even without the cell phone network. A SIM card is mandatory, although network service is not.

Who bought out Nextel?

Sprint Nextel Corp