Verizon PTT (Push To Talk) vs Nextel's Direct Connect? 47
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?"
It's a Phone. It is *not* a CB (Score:1, Interesting)
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.
Re:It's a Phone. It is *not* a CB (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Cause it is (semi) public (Score:2)
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 inform
Re:It's a Phone. It is *not* a CB (Score:2)
(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.
Re:It's a Phone. It is *not* a CB (Score:2)
From what I hear... (Score:2)
Re:From what I hear... (Score:1)
Re:From what I hear... (Score:2, Informative)
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.
Different services (Score:5, Informative)
Re:From what I hear... (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:From what I experienced.. (Score:2)
Re:From what I experienced.. (Score:1)
Re:Sprint PCS (Score:1)
Blah (Score:1)
I hate these things (Score:4, Insightful)
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?
Re:I hate these things (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, PTT is one thing I miss terribly. A good number of my friends and family are on Nextel. The ability to be able to buzz someone and speak and then turn off is very convienent. It's sorta like IM in that respect. You can say something and not have to wait on the line until the other person responds. My brother and I used this feature when we were setting up a wifi run that was two miles long. We could have sat there with the phone on all the time, but instead we just got to push give the information we needed and wait without keeping the phone up to our ears.
Oh, and Direct Connect doesn't HAVE to be on a speaker system.... I never had mine do that unless I was by myself (apartment, car, etc)
--Z
Re:I hate these things (Score:2)
Re:I hate these things (Score:1)
$0.02 a minute
Makes sense to me
Re:I hate these things (Score:2)
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.
Because they aren't clueful enough to send the "walkie-talkie" function audio out the ear piece instead of the speaker. All of my engineers and myself carry Nextel phones.
VzW PTT (Score:2, Informative)
Re:VzW PTT (Score:3, Interesting)
I also work for a Verizon Wireless agent, not Verizon directly.
In addition to having a much larger network that PTT with Verizon will operate on, there are a few other advantages:
As he mentioned, the v60p is much smaller than most Nextel's.. as far as I know, it's smaller than ALL Nextels.. It's the same as a regular v60 with a third button on the side.
I have yet to hear about battery time - I haven't
Re:VzW PTT (Score:2, Informative)
It's the same as a regular v60 with a third button on the side.
No, it's not precisely -- the phone is marginally (3/16"??) thicker to accomodate the internal speakerphone (req for PTT) and its requisite acoustic cavity. This means the the V60p is the same size with a standard battery as the other V60's (c, g, t) are with the super extended (TDMA) battery.
Re:VzW PTT (Score:2)
Thanks for the correction, though.
Nextel only seems instanct (Score:2)
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.
Re:Nextel only seems instanct (Score:2)
Aparently Verison compensates by keeping a full connection after the first contact is made, so the lag only apears on the first PTT message.
Disclaimer: My brother works for Nextel, and I have an employ plan
Re:Nextel only seems instanct (Score:2)
Am I the only person who has ever had two Nextels in the same room, to measure how instantaneous it is?
I can tell you, it is no more than a second-- the delay provides the exact echo effect you need to do a perfect imitation of Gehrig's "Farewell to Baseball" speech [lougehrig.com] ("...today, I consider myself the luckiest man...").
~Philly
V60 (Score:2)
Re:V60 (Score:2)
I've got a V60i (I think, the manual was for a g, but PO claims i). Anyway, my phone's gotten worse recently. I'll open it up to check for voice mail, as it'll be quiet for awhile, and notice that it's just a blank display. Nada, zippo, zilch - dead. Turn off, wait, Turn on. My Dad (Verizon) and Sister (Cingular) have V60s as well that they've both had replaced.
I like the phone, but I think they were shipped before really ready.
Re:V60 (Score:2)
I use nextel all day (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:I use nextel all day (Score:2)
1.Batteries are shyte. Even when brand new and fully charged you're lucky to get a full day of usage.
2. The accidental calls is something that is more common with the older model phones (ie. I1000 or earlier). All of the newwer model phones use a different menu system similar to that of other Motorola celluar only phones.
3. The tower spacing for Nextel is crap. In my area (MA, RI, CT) it is as
Re:I use nextel all day (Score:1)
Not the new ones. I have an i90 here, with a used battery from the iDEN test lab (regular production battery), and it can easily last me an entire weekend left on. If I plug it in every night (which I usually do), I never have to worry about emptying the battery. Even with plenty of use here at work, I've had my phone on for weeks on end.
3. The tower spacing for Nextel is crap.
Agreed - this is proba
The difference is this ... (Score:2)
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
Re:The difference is this ... (Score:2, Informative)
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 p
Re:The difference is this ... (Score:2, Insightful)
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 networ
Re:The difference is this ... (Score:1)
Re:The difference is this ... (Score:1)
How does silent mode work? (Score:3, Interesting)
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?
Re:How does silent mode work? (Score:1)
why don't they talk to each other? (Score:1)
Nextel's are not that great... (Score:1)
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 pa