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Verizon Rolling Out Nextel-Like PTT Service
aberson writes "Verizon Wireless announced today that it is rolling out a PTT (push to talk) phone service, targetted at business customers. They claim better coverage, 'presence' (away/available), and wireless web for about $10 more than Nextel and $10 more than a non-PTT Verizon plan. Pricing doesn't mention how 'high-speed' data will roll into this (which you can't get on Nextel), but you are using the CDMA2000 network to essentially do VoIP. If only it could be something cross-networkable like Sonim. Just wait a few months for the other carriers to catch up and cellular number portability to be enforced. Ironically, you can only get it on a Motorola made phone. Also, Verizon seems to be not caring about Nextel trying to copyright a generic technical term."
Am I the only one who wants a cell phone that does nothing except phone calls and maybe handle a list of peoples phone numbers? All these crazy features are making me crazy :(
Sprint is about to launch a PTT VoIP solution as well, if they can overcome the technical issues. PTT VoIP is harder than it sounds, given the need for authentication, etc... unless you like waiting 30 seconds after you push the button to talk :)
They managed to come up with something more annoying that cell phones. Everyone walking around with publicly broadcasting walkie talkies. Great idea. More noise for us all.
Sweet, maybe this will inspire Nextel to start offering phones designed in the 21st century.
Life in Orange County
There is nothing more annoying than hearing someone try to use this "walkie-talkie" function in public. I sure hope SprintPCS never gets this.
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
..Also means "Post Telegraph & Telephone". A lot of European countries used to have a single, government run, phone and postal service; PTT remains shorthand for ex-State telephone companies, like "ma Bell". (And as such it has negative connotations to the point that all telcos are moving away from that name..)
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
BEEP - Can you hear me now?
BEEP - Yes.
[Verizon guy takes 2 steps]
BEEP - Can you hear me now?
BEEP - Yes.
Continue ad infinitum
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
From their site:
Express Network is capable of data speeds bursting up to 144 kbps, delivering average speeds up to 40 to 60 kbps. You may experience slower data speeds.
Must not...point out difference...between copyright and trademark...yet again...not...strong..enough!
You know when your relatives say they need 3 gigs of memory to install a game, or ask why they don't just put the hard disk in the TV screen, or why a computer needs to be plugged in if it is wireless? That's what it is like to read the same trademark/copyright/patent goofs made over and over and over again.
Trademarks are solely for marks used in trade. ie "We bring good things to life", a slogan, an icon, a piece of IDENTITY. You get trademarks so that consumers will not be confused about who produced a product. If you stop using a trademark (or it becomes common, no longer distinct to your company), you can lose it. It's sole purpose is to protect companies from imitators.
Copyrights are for the right to copy creative works. ie, novels, poems, computer programs, paintings, etc. You never have to sell, buy or process anything to get a copyright. it cannot be lost no matter what, but you can give it away or sell it. It is to protect AUTHORS, not companies or money (at least in theory).
Patents are for novel inventions (and lately, processes). You can't patent a book, or a painting, or a slogan, because they don't do anything. It protects inventors, not writers or marketing folks.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
Why do you think Verizon is picking up this feature? Because companies are leaving their current cellular provider for Nextel just for PTT.
It comes in particularly handy when businesses and oranizations have employees off-site. Everything from delivery to maintenance, sales to construction. It is a very valuable feature for both convenience and saving money.
Bottom Line: People will leave Verizon for Nextel, and they don't want to lose market-share.
well, basically there isn't a huge difference. The main advantage to a 'walkie-talkie' type feature is you can communicate with groups of people all at the same time. The other advantage is, some plans include unlimited PTT service, allowing you to talk to others with the same PTT service as much as you want.
My Sig Beat up your Honor Roll Sig
Why are they implementing this as a push to talk feature?
It seems to me that PTT isn't going to save them much bandwidth because human conversation tends to be mostly half duplex anyway. Since it's a packet-switched network, it's not like you're using a dedicated circuit (like in a walkie-talkie or analog phone line) when you're not conversing. Keeping the connection up shouldn't cost much bandwidth at all. If they're using something like TDMA from the phone to the transmitter, you should use almost no bandwidth there keeping the connection open either.
Shouldn't packet switching and TDMA like technologies make the walkie-talkie limitations irrelevant?
I've always thought that this was a way of making the service just inconvenient enough to use that users don't burn so many hours. They don't want me spending my entire commute talking to my wife.
Jut wondering.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
I'm curious as to how this and Nextel phones are seen by laws such as the ones in NYC. Since there are provisions in the law that continue for the use of CB radios without hand free devices, shouldn't these be allowed to be used without handfree devices in cars when you're using the PTT feature? I know they don't transmit over the CB frequencies and that's why State Laws can't overpower federal regulations. But if I got a ticket for using my PTT phone in New York without handsfree, I would think I would have a good fight in court
The best way I can describe PTT when compared to a standard voice conversation is that PTT is almost like a voice SMS. It's useful for communicating short bursts of information quickly.
Advantages to PTT/"Direct Connect (TM)" is that as soon as you push the button, you're connected to the other party - you don't have to wait while the other end rings and for them to pick up. Also, communication using PTT is closer to a walkie talkie than a phone conversation.
Example:
Them: *chirp* (press the button and release it to page them, indicating you want to talk to them)
Me: "Go."
Them: "What's your 20?"
Me: "3rd and Maple."
Them: "Copy. Need assistance?"
Me: "Negative. Thanks."
As you can see, it can be a little quicker than a phone conversation. Additionally since the mike is only on while you have the button pressed, I typically am doing other things at the same time, like talking to others, without the other end hearing it.
The advantages are mostly visible when you have an entire department or company equipped with PTT phones. If you are the only one, then PTT is kind of silly, admittedly.
Evolution Data Only will be over 2 Megabits.. currently in testing in the beltline area of Washington State..
:)
Also by Verizon Wireless not to be confused with Verizon
You can get info here
I bet you're the same kind of person who believes SETI@Home is wasteful and everyone should be working on curing cancer instead. Any why work for a coorporation when we should all be doing volunteer work for Greenpeace. And why buy that $3.50 cup of expresso when there are starving kids in some foreign land. Get over yourself.
Imagine, if you will, sitting in a car with a hot member of the opposite sex...Okay, make that just a member of the opposite sex, since this is /.
Things are going well...VERY well. And then, with no warning, your phone makes a little BRRREEP noise, and a voice says LOUDLY, "Hey man, you get any on that date tonight?"
This is a technology that has few practical applications, and offers a whole WORLD of annoying possibilities.
Just my opinion.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
One of my friends had a Verizon cell phone at work (Brooklyn). Everybody else's cell phones (and the office phone) weren't working but his Verizon cell phone was. He said that the only time it was down was 9/11. After noticing this I decided that if I get a cell phone it'll be Verizon and I'll reccomend it to friends.
Dear sweet Bob, no! I used to live in Ocoee, a western suburb of Orlando, Florida. "West Orange," as the area was known, was home to a disproportionately large number of people who worked in the building and construction trades. EVERYBODY, and I mean EVERYBODY, had a brick-sized Nextel permanently grafted to their hips; they were called "West Orange County passports" among some in the area. You know the frustration experienced by those who have to put up with yuppies and loud cell phone calls in public? Well, jack it up a couple of orders of magnitude higher in West Orange County. In stores, restaurants, coffee houses, anywhere, you couldn't go more than five minutes without hearing "BREEEEEEP! blah blah drywall blah blah Bobcat blah blah Sunbelt rentals blah blah framing inspectors BREEEEEEEP!" Yes, even at the movie theater, blue collar bubbas would be droning on about pouring concrete, and NOBODY CARED. Why? Everybody else was armed with a West Orange County passport. BREEEEEEEEP!
By and large, you are correct, but...
:)
You are somehow "coded" to each other, so you can only talk/listen to the people you care about (family/boss/whatever)
Not true. I've always been able to DirectConnect with any other Nextel users (co-workers, my limo driver) regardless of the area I'm in, even when not my home area. Plus, now that Philadelphia "came online" a month ago and I work near NYC, I've started to get some "wrong number" DirectConnects coming out of Philly. Its important to note that the cross-market DirectConnects are only paid for by the originators, not both parties, as cell minutes are usually charged. I have special pricing and features available to me as an IBM employee, and one feature is "Cross Fleet", so that may explain why I've always been able to connect with literally any Nextel user. You "dial" a DirectConnect session as a regular phone number but as xxx*yy*zzzz and then hit the PTT button (hitting "alert" first is kinder) instead of "Send"
Also, will only work if your on the same network, and probably have the same plan.
Also not true. Each plan participant must pay for DirectConnect minutes in some way shape or form. I am on the Free Incoming 400 with 400 peak outbound mins, free incoming cell calls 24x7, free nights & weekends, with unlimited local (included) and cross-market ($10) DirectConnect. My wife is on a zero minute plan with unlimited local DirectConnect included. The IBM contract gives her 100 bonus cellular minutes, which she never exhausts. If she needs to talk to me, she alerts me for free, and I DC back to her cross-market.
And all of the comments about public use of the 2-way are absolutely correct. They are annoying as hell. I want to walk up to people DC'ing in a restaurant and show them how to turn off their speakerphone. I have approached cell nirvana, that is, having a consistent bill for basically unlimited use (and minimizing it), but my main gripes about the carrier are the coverage. Living in Philly and working in New York leaves few dead spots, however. Unless of course someone hacks the power grid, then all bets are off
Intelligent Life on Earth
In addition to the above:
PTT is a public conversation. When the foreman calls the boss to get the answer to a question I asked, I hear the boss's response and go do it. A speaker phone would work instead, but our with the generator nearby that would be more annoying to the other end than we want. (and the boss isn't far from his generater either)
The other thing is you know don't have to answer the phone nessicarly. Someone with PTT can just ring out to everyone "Joe fell off the ladder, ha ha". (Which is something we do when whoever is unhurt and we should all enjoy a laugh, if he was hurt the message would be worded differently, and come after first aid) If whoever you call is not in a place where he can answer the phone, they may or may not get the message, it isn't important enough to ensure it is recived, but you would like to send it.
Lastly, drivers using PTT seem to be less distracted and thus safer than on a phone. I don't know why, but I've been a passenger with the foreman when on a normal call, and a PTT call, and even though the same information is exchanged over a long conversation, he is a better driver under PTT. Not scientific, but something to consider.