To any Americans - PTT

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Push to talk. Anyone used it? I don't really see what the point is...my understanding so far is:

Click the button

Select a contact

Contact sees you request and accepts :P

[Guest]

Okay, I'm not American, but my understanding is -

Like MSN, you are on or off-line. If on-line, then the person sending the message can send to you without you doing anything. ie they select you, click to send the message, and the message sounds on you device. If you're near it, you hear it. If you miss the message you can't get it again - ie it's lost for good.

I agree that I can't see the point, unless it's an all inclusive price, which I don't think it will be. Surely as things stand, a phone call would be cheaper and easier.

Also worth bearing in mind, I believe the system O are bringing in isn't compatible with the system used on the Nokia PTT phone - not sure where the other phones will fit in that are coming out PTT enabled.

Oh, and one final thing, it does work over GPRS, and when I used O GPRS, reliable wasn't a word I'd associate with it!

Posted from my XDA II !

[Guest nickcornaglia]

My brother-in-law and his brothers used this with their tow-truck business. I cant say that I know much about this but a benefit is that you can communicate with more than one party as well.

I believe there is a way to set up groups and, if requested, messages get pushed to everyone in the group. This was good to say..."Is anyone driving on I-95 north below Center City" or a similar scenario.

Another group of friends I know have summer homes at the beach and all live near eachother. Because they all live at the marina, and it's only part of the year, hardly any of them have landline phones.

They do a similar thing where they may broadcast to the group or to just ask a quick question or comment.

It's basically a Walkie-Talkie during conversations.

Nextel..I think this uses the iDen service or something like that...was the first in our area to carry this and that's what mostly everyone around here has...if this is their preference. The time it takes for the voice message to travel is almost immediate as far as I can tell.

Verizon (CDMA) has recently started to offer push to talk. There is a HUGE delay using their PTT service, as far as I can tell.

With unlimited calling plans these days, I dont really get it. But I guess there are a couple of scenarios where it could be a timesaver.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Hmm, more or less my thinking. Do you have to leave your handset in a "PTT mode" to recieve messages? Or do they just come straight through regardless?

Sorry for the questions, i've been trying to pick up how it works from the Nextel website but their marketing bods seem to have skitted around the specifics :P

[Guest nickcornaglia]

http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia/...Talk/index2.htm

Here's the Verizon Wireless Demo. It's okay. The guy in it is the Verizon spokesman who walks all over the country saying "Can you hear me now?...Good!" as if he's testing his signal.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Hmm interesting, cheers for the link. One thing i still don't get though, any idea if your handset has to be in "PTT mode" to send and receive?

[Guest nickcornaglia]

No. I'm sure you can receive/make calls as well if thats what you mean.

[Guest Pondrew]

The guy in it is the Verizon spokesman who walks all over the country saying "Can you hear me now?...Good!" as if he's testing his signal.

Heh, I recently said that to a mate as a joke, and unsurprisingly he didn't get it. Forgot that not everyone gets exposed to North American culture! (I lived in Canada for a while)