Hey All, Anyone using the “Push To Talk” communication on your phone or dedicated hardware? If so what apps have you been using? I have currently been using the app Zello for this type of communication. I am thinking about making a channel within the Zello app so people from here can also chat with voice on there as well as text on here. Anyways great to hear people’s thoughts on this. Cheers
Not that anyone asked, but, I, for one, am quite happy that Nextel folded. A company I used to work for shared space in an office building with a Nextel Customer Support center. Their employees were constantly yakking using the PTT functionality and, for the most part, their yakking did not include much in the way of important "business" conversation. It's bad enough when I encounter people in the supermarket talking loudly on their cellphones. It's inconsiderate, distracting and, frankly, nothing I need to hear. The world is a noisy enough place without PTT; let's just give everyone a megaphone and get it over with. I don't believe younger people would use a service such as the one you are proposing. They don't even use the telephone aspect of their smartphones much at all. I would see it as a niche product that isn't really necessary any longer since messaging is so prevalent and since voice memos can be sent via iMessage. Everyone seems to have coped rather well since the downfall of Nextel.
@YankeeHotelFoxtrot: The Nextel PTT was never something really used by a broad customer base. Pretty sure most users were contractors of various sorts. Everything from construction, remodelers, sales force, IT. I got into it when I was in flooring sales. Pulled my son into it during his undergraduate years -- became very useful for staying in touch with him even though his campus was a 5 hour drive away! It was more useful than texting and voice memos since it was real time. Really effective for coordination between members of a construction team for example. Also at least at the time much much cheaper than real time voice calls using 'normal' channels. Always amused me during morning rush hours to stop in say a 7-11 and hear all the 'chirping' as the PTT calls were going off as contractors got their morning coffee! L'chaim! Moshe ben David
It is interesting to compare the Nextel service thing to Texting today and I have observed that many who prefer texting seem to think it is EXACTLY the same as talking,EXACTLY!?!?!? I have had the conversation several times now with different people who actually can not comprehend the difference somehow and seem to feel that one way messages devoid of any context or emotion is the same as "Mouth Words" which can easily convey a lot more information than a Text. I am simply baffled by this?
Yea, I guess it might be a neiche way to communication. You never know though it might take off and become really popular. Having an interest in radio type communication I am pretty keen to pickup some hardware for PTT network communication. I am planning to pickup the Senhaix N60 which runs android software.
A taxi company I drove for used Zello At Work (the paid business version) for dispatch. It worked pretty well. I've used the free version for road trips with multiple cars.
My family and friends sometimes use the mobile app Voxer (ios and Android) Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using Tapatalk
You aren't alone...! Which is why I liked PTT! I realized after my earlier post - I don't think the demise of PTT for Nextel was all due to Sprint. More like it was an issue with FCC and how bandwidths were allocated. Seems like for most of its life, PTT was kinda sorta 'squatting' in a band that should have been left for First Responders. FCC knew; so it wasn't illegal or anything like that. But things reached a point such that FCC needed to 'reclaim' it for First Responders. Nextel lost out as did IIRC, Verizon who were attempting to get their own version of PTT off the ground - not very successfully. Nextel pretty much 'owned' that brand. Pity for the demise. It was highly useful! L'chaim! Moshe ben David
Moshe ben David, Yes, I'm aware of that and it didn't make listening to them any easier :-/. Seemed a bit much to me. The world doesn't need to hear private and prosaic conversations. It's fine on the job site, or in a business vehicle. Despite my current dislike of the FCC (over their Net Neutrality decision), I might need to send them a fruit basket to thank them for reclaiming the bandwidth and "muting" PTT once and for all. EZ-Dog - I agree with you 100%!
Nextel was great for groups of workers. Traveling in a group of test cars, we used PTT where land mobile was useless. Plus the hardware was more compact. Bottom line, mobile was business oriented. That's not the case anymore. Sent from my LG-V520 using Tapatalk
People video chatting while pushing a buggy in the grocery store is just as annoying as the Nextel push to talk.
In the past when we had Sprit phones because Intel had them, we used the PPT service constantly! I really liked being able to talk to my friend in NM while I was in Oregon or at home in CA on the PPT it was super convenient when we had to have someone head to the "Subfab" to do a reset of some sorts. Communication on the PTT was instantaneous. I miss the PPT feature but won't be paying for any such service out of my pocket.
Google didn't have a quick answer so I'll post it here. If I want to PTT with an international phone number (I have a US #, friend has a Grenada area code), if not in wifi environment, does it kick in ATT international data plan? 10/day deal when I am in Grenada?
PTT apps use data. You will be charged for international data usage when in Grenada and not using WiFi.
