Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Push-to-talk cell phones offer speedier connections

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 12:30:59 -0400

Push-to-talk cell phones offer speedier connections 

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

By L.A. Johnson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer 

Push, talk, listen. Push, talk, listen.

Push-to-talk cell phones make communicating with someone across 
town, across state or across country as easy as using a walkie-
talkie.

"It's immediate connection," says Janice Marks, who's had a Nextel 
Direct Connect push-to-talk cell phone for about two months. "As 
soon as I push that button, I'm connected with whomever I'm trying 
to reach and it doesn't cost extra."

Marks and her husband and four other couples used their push-to-talk 
cell phones last month to coordinate their evacuation from North 
Carolina's Outer Banks to Virginia as Hurricane Isabel approached.

"If we didn't have those phones to keep in touch with each other, it 
would have been tough," says Marks, 45, of Banksville, who also uses 
push-to-talk phones in her job as a Pittsburgh paramedic 
supervisor. "Those phones are incredible."

Nextel, the sole provider of push-to-talk cell phones for more than 
a decade, got some competition in August when Verizon Wireless 
introduced its push-to-talk cell phone service. Sprint expects to 
offer the option to its cell phone subscribers by year's end.

Approximately 90 percent of Nextel's 12 million subscribers use the 
push-to-talk function on their cell phones, says company spokesman 
Sean Hughes. In 2002, Nextel customers made 62 billion push-to-talk 
calls -- about 190 million a day. Verizon Wireless, still the new 
kid on the push-to-talk block, doesn't yet have subscriber numbers 
for its two-month-old service.

"We do have the largest network that spans across the nation," says 
Laura Merritt, the Verizon Wireless spokeswoman for Ohio and 
Pennsylvania.

Push-to-talk has been big in the business sector, but consumer 
interest is on the rise, too. About 24 percent (roughly 33.6 
million) of 140 million wireless phone users surveyed in June 
indicated they were somewhat interested in the push-to-talk 
function, says Adam Guy, a senior analyst with the Yankee Group, a 
communication and networking research firm in Boston.

Marks and her husband not only use their push-to-talk phones to 
touch base with each other, but to talk to friends and relatives 
across the state.

"It's very, very convenient and reliable and we're trying to recruit 
more friends and family because we like it so well," she says.

For information about Verizon Wireless push-to-talk service visit: 
www.verizonwireless.com or call 1-800-2-JOIN-IN. (1-800-256-4646)

That's the rub. Nextel push-to-talk users can communicate only with 
other Nextel push-to-talk users. The same holds true with Verizon 
Wireless push-to-talk phones.

Number portability -- the ability to keep the same telephone number 
even when changing cell phone companies -- is just around the 
corner. And Guy predicts push-to-talk users from different phone 
companies will be able to connect with each other within the next 
two years. 

Amy Wetzel and her fiance use their Verizon Wireless push-to-talk 
cell phones for quick conversations, such as finding out when the 
other expects to be home or making plans for dinner. 

"To have a really long conversation with the push-to-talk would be a 
pain in the butt," says Wetzel, 32, of Jeannette, who's had her 
Verizon Wireless push-to-talk cell phone for about six weeks. "You 
have to push the button and wait for it to beep and then talk and 
then you have to wait for them to talk back."

The technologies Nextel and Verizon Wireless use differ. Nextel push-
to-talk connects immediately. With Verizon Wireless push-to-talk, 
there's a few seconds lag between the time the button is pushed and 
the voice is heard at the other end, Guy says. 

Push-to-talk plans start at about $50 per month with some plans 
including unlimited nationwide push-to-talk time -- which is 
separate from cell phone minutes -- as well as unlimited weekend and 
night cell phone minutes and a set number of anytime cell phone 
minutes nationwide.

"I'm on the road a lot with my job and this way, we don't pay to 
talk to each other," Wetzel says. "We don't have it perfected yet. 
We're constantly hanging up on each other."

All Nextel phones have push-to-talk capabilities and range in price 
from $49.99 to $299.99. The Verizon Wireless push-to-talk phone 
costs about $200.

Bill Larkin originally got Nextel push-to-talk to save money on his 
cell phone.

"My wife was calling up using a good amount of my cell minutes," 
says Larkin, 40, of Hampton. "But we hate talking on it. The clarity 
isn't that great ... sort of the way a landline is better than a 
cell phone connection."

So, instead, he uses it mostly for business and loves it.

"I have a big contractor client and they have 100 of these phones 
and it really does facilitate very quick communication with their 
foreman and job superintendents," says Larkin, 40, who sells 
liability and workers' compensation insurance for the Meyer & 
Eckenrode Insurance Group. 

That's one of the reasons push-to-talk has been big in the business 
sector, especially with transportation workers, truckers and 
construction workers. Push-to-talk enables a caller to disseminate 
information to multiple people simultaneously -- up to 20 with 
Verizon Wireless and up to 25 with Nextel. Guy believes this 
capability will be of special interest to families and anyone who 
needs to talk to groups of people via phone.

Nextel gives subscribers a cell phone number and then a different ID 
number to be used for push-to-talk calls. Verizon Wireless 
subscribers use their 10-digit cell phone number as their push-to-
talk number.

Matt Badali, who hauls Rolling Rock beer from here to California and 
vegetables from across country to the Strip District and Giant 
Eagle, bought Verizon Wireless push-to-talk phones for employees of 
his trucking company, Badali Transport.

"Now, I can have push-to-talk with my employees instead of me making 
a phone call to them," says Badali, 49, of Waynesburg. "It's 
actually clearer than the cell phone. When I'm in Los Angeles 
talking to someone in Pittsburgh it's like we're standing next to 
each other."

He can talk to one or all four of his employees at once and it 
doesn't cost extra. It works almost everywhere, he says, and the few 
areas in which it doesn't work, his cell phone does.

"You don't have to dial anything; you just push a button on the 
phone and you immediately get to me," Badali says. "You never get a 
busy signal. It's nice."

http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20031022walkietalkie1022fnp3.asp

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---

From: "Paul Holliday" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:36:55 -0400

Nextel has not worked in Carolinas Outer Banks since ISABEL.  AS in no
signal!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 12:30 PM
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Push-to-talk cell phones offer speedier connections

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