Boost Mobile offers a range of pre-paid, no-contract cell phone services. It uses the Sprint Nextel network, with most phones made by Motorola. While closely associated, the two networks aren't interchangeable.
Significance
Nextel is currently a legacy brand of Sprint, and not a company in itself. Nextel has a large user base in the United States due to its great popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The main defining aspect of Nextel is the walkie-talkie feature, now known as Nextel Nationwide Direct Connect.
Boost Model
Boost is a cell phone operator that bases its services on pre-paid packages that include a phone and a SIM card. Similar to other pre-paid operators, Boost doesn't require a contract and offers unlimited usage for a flat fee. Combined with the state of the economy, this has made its products quite popular.
Shared Network
In the United States, Boost uses the Sprint network. This close association with Sprint and its Nextel service makes it easy to assume numbers and accounts can be transferred across the two networks easily, but this isn't true.
Requirements
Boost activation requires a SIM card, an activation number and one of two additional numbers--IMEI or ESN, depending on phone model purchased from Boost. Non-boost phones may work if unlocked, but users still need to purchase a Boost Starter Kit. The kit contains a SIM and the necessary activation numbers.
Limitations
Since only SIM cards issued by Boost carry the necessary activation numbers, non-Boost SIMs won't work. This also means existing Nextel and Sprint SIM cards--they won't work on the Boost network, and don't qualify for Boost pre-paid rates.
Nextel factor
In any case, Nextel Nationwide Direct Connect numbers aren't considered traditional cell phone numbers by Sprint. This limitation extends to Boost. In other words, Nextel numbers can only be used as such, and not on any other service offered by Sprint or Boost.
Other way around
The good news is that Boost SIMs can be taken to the Sprint network and be used as a regular number. Boost numbers can also have the Nextel Nationwide Direct Connect feature added to them, just like any other number from Sprint.
Tags: cell phone, Direct Connect, Nationwide Direct, Nationwide Direct Connect, Nextel Nationwide, Nextel Nationwide Direct, Sprint Nextel