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Hardware Technology

Verizon Rolling Out Nextel-Like PTT Service 173

Posted by simoniker from the push-to-trash-talk-extra dept.
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."
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Verizon Rolling Out Nextel-Like PTT Service More

Verizon Rolling Out Nextel-Like PTT Service

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  • Does anyone use this stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by floamy ( 608691 ) <(floam) (at) (sh.nu)> on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:30PM (#6707783)
    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 :(
    • This is Slashdot... we like our cell phones to do everything under the sun. Because if he had something that just worked well for one purpose, it's not a fun enough toy.

      • Sure they do (Score:5, Insightful)

        by wordisms ( 624668 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:48PM (#6707918)
        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.
    • God I know. Want yourself a miniature computer then buy a damn PDA. I'm less concerned with cell phone gadgets and add ons and more concerned with range. I'd rather have a cell phone I can use anywhere in the world than one that I can play Pac Man on. I can't believe people actually buy into this crap.
    • 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?
      Hrmm, my phone already does this!

    • Re:Does anyone use this stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Adam9 ( 93947 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:40PM (#6707866) Journal
      I don't care for PTT to be used by people in stores, etc. because I find it highly annoying. However PTT is great for company use, especially on construction jobs. I believe Verizon is going to be targeting corporate users first for PTT.

      • I'll vouch for that.

        My father-in-law and brother-in-law both do construction and are constantly using it to get ahold of each other. My other brother-in-law runs a landscaping business and are the same way with his sons.

      • The school I work for uses these 'phones for coordinating emergency response stuff. They actually switched to Verizon a few months back because Nextel's coverage on campus was problematic.

    • This is a feature that people will actually use. At work, I am stuck with a piece of junk Nextel phone which I would like to run over with my car most days. I have a Verizon phone for personal use, and have always been pleased with the service. Any competition against Nextel's Direct Connect feature is a good thing.
    • We did during demos and field tests. The catch was the Nextell walkie-talkie signal was interfering with one of our sensors so we had to be careful when we used it. Didn't seem to be a problem during normal calls though.
    • Actually, all I want is to:

      1. Make phone calls.

      2. The "walkie-talkie" feature so I can call my wife any time of the day when I'm out of town, and not get roaming/long distance bill.

      That's pretty much all I care for. Don't want games (my NES emulator on my Palm and my GBA fill that bill), internet/email (nothing against others - but I can't use a little screen), text messaging (if I want IRC sex, I'll do it without cramping my thumbs to death).
    • I'm with ya man....I think it's really annoying to use, and I'd never pay for the service.

      BUT -- I think it's _extremely_ popular among the busines community, especially in industries where walkie-talkies or standard radios are used regularly. So think messenger services, taxis/limos, tow-trucks, etc.
    • So far, the only extra feature I've ever found useful on my phone are the forced-network commands (not all phones let you force Analog when you need to get a signal through) and VAD (Voice Activated Dialing) for when I am on the go. No comments about cellphones and cars please, I try to avoid such usage unless I'm getting directions.

      However, a lot of features are rather cool, just not useful to the average person. A cellphone shouldn't be a PDA, and in most cases I'd rather get extra battery life than a s
      • They make phones plugs different for every phone (even for the same carrier and mfgr) because they give the phones away (or sell at a deep discount for high end phones) and need to break even on the accessories.
        • Where did you get this information?

          When I signed up for my cellphone *plan* 3 years ago, my phone came with the plan. However, I'm fairly sure that the phone was still paid for, and the telco was taking the hit in order to snap me in a 3yr contract.

          At about 2.5 years, the stupid little startac phone took one last jump from its holster (the plastic holster it comes with really sucked) onto a concrete floor and split in half. Repair price was >$100.

          So, I went out and bought a new phone, a compact LG
          • If you buy that phone with a new 2 year contract, the $500 price will drop down to 200 or so.

            A phone that is $100-200 will be free with the contract.

            Go by any one of those verizon or Mlife kiosks at the mall, and compare the retail price to with contract.

            For example, if you get new phone service, and end up losing that phone, if you paid $100 to begin with with the contract, the replacement phone could be around $400 (

            This is why it actually makes sense to buy the $4/mo replacement insurance.

    • I use it and it is THE DEVIL (Score:5, Funny)

      by SatanicPuppy ( 611928 ) <Satanicpuppy.gmail@com> on Friday August 15, 2003 @05:16PM (#6708074) Journal
      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.
      • Hahahahaha. I did that to my brother last week. On purpose. Hey, if I ain't getting any, nobody needs to be getting any.

        Seriously, I think the PTT can be as much as a liability, even outside sexual endeavors, as anything else on the phone.
        • i just turn off the speaker when i dont want any radio calls. nextel phones are the best in my opinion because the menus and the way they work in general is the same no matter what phone you have. just hit the speaker button on top once and it mutes it.
          • ** Attention Nextel Users **

            Use the Call Filter feature of Styles to do things like filter out 2-way calls or alerts, and even limit *who* can call your phone! Yes, when you put the call filter into "Some Phonebook" mode, you can actually choose who in your phonebook (up to 5 people) are allowed to call you. Pair that up with the Datebook feature, and when you have a recurring meeting each day or week, you can force the phone to go into that "restricted incoming" mode automatically for the length of your m
      • First of all, NO, TRUST ME, you do not have to initiate the conversation. AT ALL. I used these damn things for more than a year, it's burned into my head. You push the button, and then you start talking.

        Handy fact, in case you have an annoying boss who jabbers on and on about nothing: If you push the talk button on your side, all you get is an annoying beep, but if you push the "cancel" button, THEY get the annoying beep, and it may startle them enough that you can mash down your own talk button and get a
    • I used to think the same exact thing. Then I began a co-op assignment at a GE plant and see how useful it is. Rather than paging the whole plant, engineer A can just blip engineer B and say "hey come to the front lobby real quick" or ask a quick question.

      I'd hate it if I saw someone using it in the restaurant beeping and talking real loud, but in a work environment, it's a cool tool.

      Nextel just sucks though. My personal cell phone is Verizon, and I think they'll do a much better job of it.

  • Sprint has been working on VoIP PTT (Score:5, Informative)

    by NitroWolf ( 72977 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:30PM (#6707785)
    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 :)

    • From what I heard last VoIP PTT on Sprint/Verizon network had call setup times of 2-8 seconds. I think Nextel has a call setup time of less than 1 second.
      • Actually, call setup time is pretty much the same for all of them, between 5 to 8 seconds. After the initial setup though, it drops closer to 2 seconds
        • Actually, call setup time is pretty much the same for all of them, between 5 to 8 seconds.

          That's wrong. Completely.

          Calls between CITIES are required to have a call setup time of significantly less than that. And those calls are longer to set up than ones in the same city.

          Call setup time and cell switching reconnect times are tightly watched during testing, and have to meet strict requirements. And the ones doing the testing are more than happy to log a defect against the system when the times exceed

  • Amazing, but true (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:31PM (#6707790)
    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.
    • These are not publicly broadcasting. They use the exact same cellphone network. Kind of funny huh?
    • Besides that, why do people want to pay more for reduced usability and reduced QoS requirements on the provider?

      This just seems like a way for the provider to more efficiently use their networks (e.g. if the network is very busy, maybe your PTT messages have a 2 second delay. Not acceptable for "live" conversations, but perfectly OK for PTT).

      Oh, then they decided to call it a "feature" and charge more for it. Amazing the way marketing works.

      • And yet, that feature is worth charging for. Having to answer the phone within 4 rings is not always an option - sometimes it ends up a "mad rush" to get to it. With Direct Connect you don't have to rush.

        If it's more efficient for them, and more efficient for me - well, then everyone wins!

  • Crappy Nextel phones (Score:4, Funny)

    by SpaceCadetTrav ( 641261 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:32PM (#6707792) Homepage
    Sweet, maybe this will inspire Nextel to start offering phones designed in the 21st century.
    • Um:
      1 - GPS on all new phones released since Nov 2002 [http://www.mostlycreativeworkshop.com/article123 . html].
      2 - MIDP 2.0 on all new java phones launching after October [http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-978294.html] -- one of the first MIDP 2.0 rollouts in the world, probably the first in the US.
      3 - Plans for phones that swap between 802.11 and iDEN network
      [http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/1 7/HNnexte l_1.html].

      But perhaps when you say 21st century you mean shiny?
      https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/fo
    • I'm not to worried about that. I've got three family members who use Verison because it's the cheapest.

      It's almost like they don't offer service. It doesn't work indoors, the signals are always weak, and you can go out of the coverage areas very often by crossing the street.

      They don't blanket their coverage zones with recievers like a lot of other companies do. And in case you're wondering, they live in Orlando - which is a place that has very, very good phone services for the other companies because t
      • Sorry your part of the network seems to be bad my friend. I have Verizon and have wonderful coverage nearly everywhere I go. Including my 6 times a year trips to Kansas. I'd suggest that you might have a problem with your phones, and should consider upgrading to a tri-mode phone if you haven't already - makes all the difference. Before switching to Verizon, I had T-Mobile back when they were voice stream. One freq - I could only use my phone between work and home - never ever ever to be used in the hou

  • There is nothing more annoying (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aardwolf204 ( 630780 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:32PM (#6707795)
    There is nothing more annoying than hearing someone try to use this "walkie-talkie" function in public. I sure hope SprintPCS never gets this.

    • Re:There is nothing more annoying (Score:5, Informative)

      by Adam9 ( 93947 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:37PM (#6707847) Journal
      Sorry.. [bloomberg.com]

      Verizon Wireless want to attract the same type of customer as Nextel, one that is willing to pay $20 more a month for the walkie-talkie feature. Nextel's service is popular with groups such as constructions crews and financial traders. Sprint Corp.'s PCS unit has said it will introduce a similar product this year.

    • Re:There is nothing more annoying (Score:5, Interesting)

      by EarwigTC ( 579471 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:43PM (#6707879)

      Blame the user, not the technology. Every Nextel phone I've seen lets you turn off the group speaker and use PTT with the phone to your ear. It's too bad more users don't figure out how to do that.

    • Re:There is nothing more annoying (Score:5, Informative)

      by The Old Burke ( 679901 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:46PM (#6707906)
      Actually push To Talk, or walkie talkie over cell-phone as you might as well call it, is quite handy.

      If you allreadt have established a connection to someone all you do is press the button then talk. If you make many small phonecalls a day the service is perfect. Many craftsmen and workers are using it, for them its perfect, and the phone cost actyally goes down as you don't have to hold the line forever.
      Currently the phone companies charges a premium for PTT, but I guess its only reasonable since the service is new and pretty high tech. The phone companies have invested a lot of money in this, but now they can sent the conversation in small packets over the IP-network.

      At my company we just got this and I'm vert satisfied, monitoring of the workers are easier and takes less time. At the same time the productivity went up, so we can charge our customers more fore the time we work.

    • I have bad news for you my friend:

      SprintPCS Pushes Instant Voice Into Beta [americasnetwork.com]
  • I'm hoping that somewhere down the line, as technology along these same lines becomes more widespread, some standardization and collaboration between cellular carriers will occur... Obviously, end result becoming a direct connect network from any provider, to people who have other providers.

    If only a couple more carriers start their own versions, it may not be long before we see 2-way as widespread as cell phones. Cool huh?
    • I doubt this will happen in the near future because they're going to be used to get people's friends signed up. For example, the Mobile to Mobile minutes (M2M) is only for phones on the same carrier to encourage people to get their friends to sign up. It's easy to get 1000+ M2M minutes, which are good for the day time. If they market PTT like this, it'll encourage people to refer people to Verizon. This is partly why Nextel got so many customers.

  • PTT.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by wfberg ( 24378 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:33PM (#6707809)
    ..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..)

  • Nokia (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I won't go for this until Nokia goes for it.

  • Great, just what we need (Score:5, Funny)

    by mhesseltine ( 541806 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:34PM (#6707823) Homepage Journal

    BEEP - Can you hear me now?

    BEEP - Yes.

    [Verizon guy takes 2 steps]

    BEEP - Can you hear me now?

    BEEP - Yes.

    Continue ad infinitum

    • That, or...

      [disembodied VOICE] BEEP - Can you hear me now?

      [Verizon GUY] BEEP - Yes.

      [EVERYONE in the room glares. the Verizon GUY takes 2 steps]

      [disembodied VOICE] BEEP - Can you hear me now?

      [EVERYONE in the ROOM] BEEP - YES. SHUT THE FUCK UP. Continue ad nauseam

      :-)

  • "In a development related to Verizon suing others over using the PTT acronym, the regional telephone company Vazuvuz (formerly known as Comquaac) has sued Anson Williams claiming that his Happy Days character "Potsie" violated the trademark they filed in June 2003 for the "POTS" acronym referring to for their plain old telephone service."

  • High speed wireless = 40 to 60 kbps (Score:3, Informative)

    by awtbfb ( 586638 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:40PM (#6707863)

    From their site [verizonwireless.com]:

    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.

  • When Wi-Fi cell phones for 10 dollars a month are available.
  • OK, I'm way behind the curve when it comes to the latest gadgets and stuff. Can anyone explain what this PTT feature does and what it's good for? I may not have a good imagination, but it seems to me to be a cell phone that you hold out in front of you, instead on next to your head. Is there more to it than that?

    • Re:Seeking a clue (Score:2, Interesting)

      by WhytTiger ( 595699 )
      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.

    • Re:Seeking a clue (Score:5, Informative)

      by LoadStar ( 532607 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @05:05PM (#6708011)

      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.

      • I actually use nextels at work. PTT is much more efficient than cellular phones.
      • The biggest problem is with high-traffic. We use Nextel's at my courier company where I'm a nighttime dispatcher. Nothing is more annoying than talking to someone and someone else "gets in". You then have to tell that person to hang on, wait for the phone to be "ready" again, manually dial the other person's phone, and then resume conversation until some other jackass "jumps in". The workflow disruption in high-traffic (many-to-one relationship?) is crippling.
        • Talk to your sales rep. My sales rep told me they can program the phone to lengthen the delay after you release the button so nobody else can get in. Of course, I worked for a very large customer...

      • Them: "What's your 20?"
        Me: "3rd and Maple."
        Them: "Copy. Need assistance?"
        Me: "Negative. Thanks."

        *boggle*

        Does it really work better if you sound like truckers talking on their CB radios?

        Buford T. Justice: Hey boy, where is Sheriff Branford at?

        Sheriff Branford: I AM Sheriff Branford.
        Buford T. Justice: Oh, pardon me. For some reason you sounded a little taller on radio.

        Or is it more fun to have long, rambling monologues to yourself, with your co-workers etc as the audience, to the tune

    • Okay.

      Digest version is - it pretty much turns your cell phone into a "walkie talkie".

      The long version- ...except, it works through the cell phone network. So if you get no signal, even if your right next to the person, then no go. Don't even *think* about using these guys in an emergency either. Phones/Cell phones are one the first things that go out during an emergency.

      You are somehow "coded" to each other, so you can only talk/listen to the people you care about (family/boss/whatever).

      Beneift is don't

      • Re:Seeking a clue (Score:3, Informative)

        by LinuxHam ( 52232 )
        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
    • OK having worked at a company that everybody had nextel phones they are a great time saver with PTT. You just chirp in as a manager and ask your questions often from meetings if something came along that you werent sure about without having todrag the person there. The big thing is most home users arent responcible enough to turn off the PTT speaker when it's not usefull like in the movies. Add to that that PTT minutes were unlimited on a lot of plans meant a lot of people spent to much time instead of m

    • Re:Seeking a clue (Score:3, Interesting)

      by bluGill ( 862 )

      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". (Wh

      • 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.

        That is very true. I remember this very well from using HAM radio from the car (also a PTT system) and the introduction of mobile phones. You can do a lot of chatting while

  • Restrain self! (Score:5, Informative)

    by NMerriam ( 15122 ) <NMerriam@artboy.org> on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:46PM (#6707904) Homepage
    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.

  • why PTT without dedicated circuit? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by obtuse ( 79208 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @04:51PM (#6707943) Journal
    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.
    • They don't want me spending my entire commute talking to my wife.

      Guess what? No one wants you to spend your entire commute talking to your wife.

      If you keep it up, you might get a visit from these guys [phonebashing.com].
    • exactly! Making it a "walkie-talkie" is a completely arbitrary restriction! I've been trying to explain this to my friends who has this service and they don't understand me.

      It's also the same thing with the text messaging service, the amount of bandwidth you use to send one text message is less than a tenth of a second of voice conversation, yet they'll charge you more for that tenth of a second than for regular voice.

      I wonder if it would be more fair to charge people based on network utilization than on
    • Shouldn't packet switching and TDMA like technologies make the walkie-talkie limitations irrelevant?

      Wireless providers are not rolling this out to save bandwidth... they are rolling it out to court business users utilizing trunked (or even conventional) radio systems.

      The providers see this as a way of being the "killer app" for dispatch-based businesses that rely on rapid easy broadcast communications.

      Trunked radio systems are limited by a service area and reception issues. Cellular wireless providers
    • It's mostly about the idea of PTT rather than the bandwidth usage. Keeping the connection open would be almost the same thing as a phone call. Looking at PTT from a social perspective, is supposed to be quick messages being sent rather than an entire conversation. In a full conversation, you may greet the person, ask how they're doing, what they're doing, etc. For PTT, if you have a simple question to ask or a message to give, you just give it, without the formalities of a phone call.

      Also, Verizon is a CDM
    • Mostly it has to do with saving the setup/teardown time for a normal phone call. Once you push the button on the walkie talkie feature the connection is open and you can start talking, no need to wait for a call setup and the phone to start dialing.
    • While the backhaul network may be packet switched (I'll take your word that Verizon has made that leap forward as most carriers are still doing circuit switched), the radio interface in CDMA is essentially circuit switched. When I connect to the cell tower, that tower is going to assign me some of its finite amount of resources (traffic elements, walsch codes, etc) to me. Once the tower runs out of traffic elements (or other resources), it can no longer accept any new calls.

      If, on the other hand, the conne

  • Ironic? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Ironically, you can only get it on a Motorola made phone.

    Somebody needs to look up "ironic" in the dictionary.

    Why is is ironic that this feature is available on a Motorola phone?

  • Verizon during the blackout (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MobyTurbo ( 537363 ) on Friday August 15, 2003 @05:25PM (#6708116)
    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.
    • Agreed. I have verizon (and a 20% corporate discount at a corporation i no longer work at!!) and the national coverage is excellent. It also rated #1 in that last slashdot link about it.

      I only have a cheapo phone (audiovox), but it works like a charm and does everything I need.

  • Verizon seems to be not caring about Nextel trying to copyright a generic technical term.

    The article linked here talks about a trademark verizon is trying to obtain. The article was also corrected, because it initially called it a patent. Now this article links to it and calls it a copyright. Seriously, there's enough confusion about the differences between these things without the /. editors' incompetence clouding the issue.
  • The walkie-talkie feature on Nextel is the whole reason my wife and I switched. While it may sound annoying to some people it is like crack once you get your hands on it.
    It's infinitely easier to push the button and just speak rather than finding the number, waiting for it to dial, waiting for it to ring and hoping someone answers.
    It does take some getting used to. You don't want to call your wife and start dropping F-bombs while she's at the neighbor's house playing with their children. (Unfortunately, I k
  • 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?
  • Also, Verizon seems to be not caring about Nextel trying to copyright a generic technical term."

    Why should they? If a competitor tries to claim "like the Joy of a Root Canal" as their slogan, would you stop them? PTT is a pain, no one wants to have to push to talk. Sure, Nextel doesn't own the concept or term (Hams amoung others have been using it for decades), but Verizon would be much better off trying to spin it into a positive concept (how about"Automatic privacy mute on button release") than in tryin

  • There are three of us out of a company with about 20 Nextel phones who are looking to switch to Verizon. The Nextel network and converage is horrible.

    Sometimes on normal phone calls the static is horrible....if we have coverage at all. Verizon in the same area has crystal clear calls. We are looking to switch for that reason alone.

    Do these phones have bluetooth? Among the three of us, we all have at least one reason for wanting a bluetooth enabled phone.

    Anyone know?

    Thanks,

    -Pete
  • The Economist [economist.com] recently did an article [economist.com] on how all the major carriers are rolling out the "push to talk" features in the coming months.

    What Verizon doesn't tell you:

    And compared with Nextel's service, which connects users almost instantly, it can take

    two seconds to establish a PTT connection over a GSM network, and four to six seconds over CDMA, says Bob Plaschke of Sonim, a firm selling PTT upgrades to operators.

  • It's bad enough I have to hear one side of an inane cellphone conversation, but to be subjected to both sides in a checkout line just because the person is:
    1. Too stupid to find out what kind of Pop-Tarts the S.O. wanted before going to the market.
    2. Too lazy to hold the freakin' phone to her/his ear.
    The feature may be useful in the construction industry, but it has zero use otherwise (for otherwise normal people).

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