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PowerSource, or "hybrid" phones, are specialized cellular devices used by customers of the American telecommunications company Sprint-Nextel. They are distinct from other mobile phones in that they make use of two cellular networks instead of a single one. PowerSource phones currently include the ic402, ic502, ic602 and ic902, all manufactured by Motorola and available only through Sprint-Nextel in the United States. == History == Upon the merger of Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications in 2005, the combined company faced significant integration challenges. Unlike some other mergers in the wireless arena, Sprint PCS and Nextel employed different air-interface technologies for their networks, making them incompatible. Sprint used Qualcomm's proprietary CDMA format, which they operated in the 1900 MHz band, while Nextel used Motorola's iDEN system, which they deployed at 800 MHz. This meant that the combined company had two distinct customer bases with two types of phones; a Nextel user could not use their phone on the Sprint PCS network, and vice versa. There was an additional problem facing the newly combined company: prior to the merger, Nextel Communications had been issued a government mandate to reduce interference caused by its cellular network with public safety radio systems. It was to do so via a process termed "re-banding." As a side effect of this "re-banding," however, Nextel's iDEN network would lose valuable 800 MHz spectrum, causing the network to face significant capacity challenges. Simultaneously, Boost Mobile, a prepaid MVNO that operated on Nextel's network, was beginning to skyrocket in popularity, placing an even greater burden on the iDEN system. This eventually manifested itself in a decrease in Nextel customers' call quality in certain markets—dropped calls, blocked calls, and bad voice quality all began to be reported in various cities in 2006. To remedy this problem, Sprint-Nextel sought to move as much of its customers' voice traffic (phone call volume) as it could from the Nextel network to the higher-capacity Sprint network. The challenge that arose then, however, was how to keep the Nextel customer base happy; Nextel had become famous in the United States for its walkie-talkie feature (called Direct Connect), a feature that at the time could not be replicated on the Sprint (or any other) network. The result was the PowerSource series of phones. Originally called "hybrids," these devices were aggressively marketed to Nextel customers in so-called "red markets" (areas of high Nextel network congestion) beginning in the fourth quarter of 2006. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「PowerSource (phone brand)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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