Slashdot Mirror
Verizon PTT (Push To Talk) vs Nextel's Direct Connect?
Amp300 asks: "I am currently a Verizon Wireless customer in the Detroit area. I am thinking about getting a Motorola v60p and upgrading to the Verizon's new PTT (Push To Talk) service. Is anyone familiar with the v60p? I have heard the battery life leaves a little to be desired. I am familiar with Nextel's Direct Connect, but I have been told that the two services are slightly different. I was wondering if someone could make an educated comparison of the two services?"
why do both services mimic CBs? Why are they so loud that I can hear what both parties are saying? Why do people shout when using them? And why must they emit that anoying beep?
It's a phone. Sure, implement PTT if you must, but make it work like a phone. The user must be able to keep the phone next to his ear and speak in a normal voice.
The Verizon system takes longer to connect than the radio based nextel system. This is because it is in effect making a call over the cell network. It still should be faster than a cell call, because it immediately answers on the other end. However, it'll never be as fast as walkie talkies.
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
EVERY NEXTEL has a button whose SOLE purpose is to turn OFF the speaker and allow you to use the PTT functionality by holding the phone to your ear. The button icon looks like a speaker. Learn it, Live it, Love it.
People either just don't know about it, or want you to hear their conversation. If you have a vibrate feature and the phone is on your belt, there are few reasons why the speaker should EVER be on.
If you don't have vibrate, you're forced to leave the speaker on if you want to receive the initial call, but it's still quite annoying when people connect to you and immediately talk. Instead, how about you just "beep-beep" them and give them a second (if they're even free) to turn off the damn speaker and then answer you.
same as with phones in movie theaters, it's not the technology that needs adjustment - it's the user.
One thing I wanted to point out is that Sprint offers an option for unlimited PCS-to-PCS calling. If you have a no long distance fee plan, you could use this pretty much the same way as the PTT abilities. It's a regular cell call anywhere in the US.
I'm sure Google could give you the info you need. *sigh*
symetrix. We are building a religion, a limited edition.
Am I the only one who hates these things? I can't even go to a restraunt without some idiot sitting on the other side of the place talking into one of these and broadcasting thier conversation across the whole room.
And besides, what is the point? If you are talking to someone on one of these things, you both obviously have a cell phone that is getting service, why not just call? Will the extra few seconds of ring time and saying "Hello?" really take that much longer?
Full Disclosure: I work for a verizon wireless agent. I do not work for verizon wireless. The PTT service will be a plus for some customers and a negative for others. The PTT with verizon will give you access to the largest cellular network in the US. This will eventually mean you will get more access with VzW PTT than with anyone else. Right now the service is limited to those people who have it, but that will change rapidly, espescially when number portability becomes an issue. The V60p has an extended battery available, which should give you 180 hours standby and 6 hours talk time. The v60p is also much smaller than most nextel ptt phones. There are trade offs, however the largest wireless network in north america, unlimited ptt, free nights and weekends, and long distance on every call makes it a winner.
Ross Winn "not just another ugly face..."
While they achieve the same goal, Verizon's service was shoehorned into their existing network while Nextel's was designed differently from the ground up. Nextel uses a separate frequency/signal for PTT stuff. http://www.howstuffworks.com/question530.htm.
I hope it works better than my buddies V60. His randomly erases his address book. He has been told he needs to send it to motorolla for an update, this will be the 2nd or 3rd time it has had to be sent back.
Being called a dork on Slashdot must be like being called the retard in special ed.
I work at a Very large landscaping company, until friday when I move to college.
Anyways, I'm the yard boy, I load everything from bags of mulch and sod, to running the bobcat or loader and loading trucks and trailers with soil or mulch.
My company uses Nextel radios. Basically, any one who is a not a laborer(the guys who do nothing but sit on their ass all day and drive dumptrucks, they don't get one, they use a motorola CB type setup) gets one, that means every foreman, equipment operator, and everyone on up to the owner has one, and is on my list.
It works incredibly well.
A typical conversation goes as such
BEEP BEEP
"Logan, copy"
"No, STFU"
"I need 3 bags of mulch and 20 pieces of sod loaded"
"Bitch say what" (this must be said very quickly and quietly)
"what?, repeat that please"
"copy that, 3 mulch, 20 sod"
The only problem I have with them is
1. The batteries barely make it through a 12 hour day, sometimes, and sometimes they are fine. It could be because I have an older phone and battery though, about 1.5 years old.
2. Its to easy to accidently call someone, I bump the button while in the bobcat all the time, cause the seat belt is right there. There should be two buttons to hold down to initiate a call.
3. Sometimes the voice is garbled, even though I have full tower.
4. The plastic belt clips are prone to breakage, but I do beat them quite a bit, I jump off the loader all the time, and always hit the damn phone up against stuff. But I've had to replace the clip 4 times this summer.
Other than that, its awsome to be able to quickly talk to anyone I need to right then and there.
Nextel's service is based on a proprietary system called iDEN. It's Motorola-specific, and only works with MOT equipment. (Ever notice that?)
VZW's PTT service is based on Voice-over-IP. The Push-to-talk stuff isn't a standard cell call, but rather runs over their 1xRTT data service.
That's why all the other cell companies are having problems ramping up PTT; it's a Voice-over-IP service, which means you need a functional data network in the first place. Since VZW has the most extensive data network, it makes natural sense that their service hits the streets first.
Honestly, I haven't used the VZW PTT yet, but from what I understand, it takes between 1-3 secs to make the initial connection. No big deal.
I'd take the VZW solution any day. CDMA is a great technology, the Qualcomm CODECs are among the best, and to be honest, VZW's network is *much* more extensive than anyone else's.
--DM
Nextel seems instance, because it is "quick enough" that you don't notice that it isn't. However there is about a half a second lag time. (I have not measured it). I only know it exists because I was in the car talking to someone in the car next to me (we met for lunch and were going opposite ways out of the parking lot) and could watch her lips move, and a moment latter hear what she was saying.
For all practical purposes NexTel has no lag time. For all engineering purposes Nextel has lag.
PTT is used mostly for buisness use, and mostly by construction workers. The normal use for PTT is not to talk to one person, but to the entire crew. When the foreman asks the boss how something should be done, after getting the answer he turns to me and says "you heard that, now go do it".
Just today I heard several conversations between the foreman and the boss that I had a interest in. Some I heard and forgot as they were of no interest. Some I commented on afterwards. Some I provided more information when it was clear the message wasn't getting across, and the person on the phone couldn't explain it better. And of course there are the messages directed at me, but I don't have the phone to ask.
I love my Nextel, but I want a palm powered phone. Nextel has the blackberry, but I want a Palm OS PTT device. Whoever delivers that gets my money.
And why must they emit that anoying beep?
(for the i95cl, most models should be similar)
From the home screen press the menu button, scroll to settings and press select. On the settings screen scroll to Ring/Vibe and press select. Next scroll to and select Call Alert. You can now change the ring tone used by DC to any ring tone stored on your phone, you can also set it to vibrate or be totally silent.
During that blackout the other week, regular cells in the my area (White Plains, NY) died. My buddy's Nextel wouldn't dial out, but direct connect worked. There must something very different about the way direct connect on Nextel works. I was under the impression that phone to phone connections are made, bypassing the network.
I'm one of the non-believers, I guess. I'm often in situations (theatre usually) where I don't want my phone making noise. My phone is on vibrate only mode nearly 24x7.
Also, I often let calls go to voice mail if it isn't a convenient time to talk. I do this not only when I need to be silent, but also when I'm just in the middle of something and don't want to be interupted.
Finally, I work in a building that shields cell phone transmissions. Several times a day I will get close to a window and my voice mail indicator will let me know how many people left messages and I can call them back.
How would PTT deal with any of these, quite common, situations?
Dispatch calls are not directly phone-to-phone. They go through Nextel's system just like a phone call, as they have to locate the other person, determine if you can initiate the call and they can receive it, record billing information, etc. But the infrastructure does have separate boxes that handle setting up interconnect calls and dispatch calls, and dispatch calls are completely internal to the system. Perhaps Nextel's link to the regular phone system was down at the time?
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
i've been considering the PTT thing as well- many of my friends have Nextel (i have Verizon) and they use the Direct Connect constantly to talk to each other. but i think they do it more because they have unlimited dc minutes than because it really makes sense to use it (like it does for people who work on construction sites and such). my question is will phones on different networks ever be able to talk to each other? i'd be a lot more apt to get PTT if i could use it to talk to my Nextel friends. but as of right now, if i'm calling someone else who has verizon, it just makes more sense to make a regular call, since i have a bunch of mobile-to-mobile minutes anyways.
If you can change the Direct Connect beep on a i95cl it's the only one, but it is the top of the line phone. I have had an i500, i1000, i60, i90, and now a i88 and NONE of them let you change the DC beep, I always had wished they would.
iRepairIT - iPhone, Mac, & PC Repair
I used Nextel's for a year at one business and they were generally more a hassle then not...
First off, the walkie-talkie speakerphone stuff is annoying. I always used it on earpiece/vibrate... but I never knew if the other end was or not, so I always found myself talking in code in case the other party was in a less then ideal environment (happened ALOT).
Nextel's network is great if you use it in an area where they have service, like the Metro Boston area... the moment you leave Metro Boston (up north past Laconia, or out west past Worcester) the signal becomes spotty at best for cell phone and non-existant for DC. So it was weak as a personal cell phone for me and I switched to Verizon because they had lower prices and significantly larger network covereage (I switched in April 2002, so maybe Nextel has done aggressive expansion in the NE area since then... I don't know...)
All in all it was over priced and not worth it for non-blue collar users. If you're a plumber or an electrician and you're used to radios and you work outside (not in an office building where the signal is dead 90% of the time) it's great. If you're white collar (except for IT maybe) it sucks, stick with a cell phone...