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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.
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 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
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.
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
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.
Just because they both run IP doesn't mean they're anything alike. In Nextel's network, the dispatch calls are carried around between base stations and controllers on an IP network, yes. On Verizon's, the calls are carried on their wireless data IP network, which itself is carried on top of another, existing infrastructure network - basically like IP over IP. It's that extra layer that makes it so much more difficult for Verizon to be competitive in regards to call setup time versus Nextel.
My understanding is that there's a 3-5 second delay when you first try to connect to another user with Verizon. I'm sure most people don't think that's a big deal, but if you've used Nextel's, I'm sure you'd notice a big difference. On Nextel, it's less than a second, which is short enough to feel instantaneous.
---- Dave
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?