An Absolute Fan

      Absolute Aluminum of Venice, Fla., is an aluminum enclosure company with 30 vehicles, mostly cargo vans and pickups, operating in Southeast Florida. Owner Dale Des Jardins said the company has been using Nextel since the company inaugurated Southern Florida service in 1998.
      "We used to use UHF radios, the Motorola-type radios, and cell phones," he said.
      "The area we cover is pretty broad and we had a lot of dead spots. Not only that but the radios had to be mounted on the vehicle and when the guys aren't in the vehicle it was hard to get a hold of them."
      Absolute Aluminum uses Direct Connect extensively.
      "It's basically walkie-talkie dispatch between two people anywhere state wide. You connect them directly instead of picking up the phone and calling,'' said Des Jardins.
      Direct Connect links a defined group — Absolute Aluminum's drivers, for example — over surprisingly broad areas. As Des Jardins said, Direct Connect service in Florida is almost state wide.
      Nextel phones provide radio-style service superior to old UHF radio, said Des Jardins, and his people carry the phones with them so they're no longer tethered to a truck for communication.
      "Another bonus is that they (drivers) can't ignore you. It tells you on your unit they're getting the message. When you alert them, your number pops up on their phone. They know you're trying to get ahold of them," said Des Jardins.
      To a lesser extent, Absolute Aluminum uses Nextel's messaging service, which delivers email-style text messages to and from Nextel handsets. Absolute Aluminum will be installing GPS (Global Positioning System), mapping and other services from @Road, Inc., a Nextel partner.

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