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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?"
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.
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 just wanted to note, as someone who used to work for Nextel, that there's a common misconception that Nextel's 'Direct Connect' service is a real radio or walkie-talkie. Naturally, all cell phones are just complex radios, but DC doesn't magically turn your cell phone into a traditional simplex radio.
The difference is that the iDEN protocol was built from the ground up for DC, so Nextel's DC service will always be faster. You should still consider a 'Nextel DC' to be the same as a 'Verizon DC' insofar that they're both still cell phone calls, but with a little higher priority in navigating through the network.
Nextel is a combination of a trunked two way radio system and a cellular system. Nearly every piece of infrastructure in Nextel's system has special capabilities designed into it to handle direct connect calls, which makes it extremely fast.
From an infrastructure standpoint, there are many, many important differences between Verizon and Nextel. Nextel's push-to-talk was designed in; Verizon's was bolted on. That being said, I haven't tried Verizon's yet, so I can't speak to its performance.
---- Dave
Motorola devceloped the iDEN protocol in-house, so Nextel uses mostly Motorola phones. The iDEN service itself runs over an IP network, so Verizon (plus AT&T and Sprint, who are also working on their own PTT services) are basically duplicating Nextel's setup.
Anyone considering Verizon's PTT service right now should keep in mind the only way they'll be able to PTT is if they (and anyone they want to PTT) replace their phones. Also, Verizon seems no better than Nextel when it comes to pricing. Many people I know abandoned Nextel due to cost, and Verizon may scare people away from PTT for the same reason. Personally, $60+/month is too much for any phone!
- Sherman