<font color="blue"> has anyone tried the new walkie talkie feature I am hearing about. I wonder how that works out or how it is different from just a regualr cell to cell call? </font>
It's new to Verizon, Sprint and any other who may be offering it, but it's been at the heart of Nextel for years. It's mostly why Nextel is pricier than others. Nextel has had some kind of lock on the technology, I don't know if it was a patent or an exlusive deal with Motorola or what, but apparently iit ran out this year and others are jumping on it, or using some other kind of technology to emulate it. I don't pretend to know how it works, but I can tell you how it appears to the user. I can only speak to the Nextel version, but the others must be similar.
There's a button on the side of the phone which acts like a two-way radio. All Nextel users have a second number, mine is 159*57376*2, which is their Direct Connect number. There's also a "mode" button. You switch out of phone mode and into Direct Connect mode, then either access your speed dial entries or manually enter another user's DC number, and push the button. Your phone "chirps" to indicate you accessed the other, and the other phone "chirps" to indicate someone is calling. The other person then pushes the btton to talk, and you push your button to answer. It's single channel like a radio; only one person can talk at a time. Each time the button is pushed or released the phone "chirps". You can hear a Nextel Direct Connect user in a crowd.
It's a private conversation between the two phones; unlike a conventional radio, no one else can hear the conversation. My guess is that because it's single channel, it uses up a lot less cellular resources than a regular phone conversation so they can have a lot more people using it.
The numbers are only available if someone gives you theirs. Thus, you easily pick and choose who you want to have immediate, direct access to you. Traditional two-way radio users have been farmers, contractors, service technicians, truckers, realtors, etc. In our area, they have all switched over to Nextel. At one time, there were something called "fleets" by Nextel that limited cross connections - ag workers could only call other ag workers, for example. That distinction is gone, and the last barrier to fall has been statewide-only connections; they're now national, pretty much everywhere Nextel has service (they're still rolling that one out). There is a small charge for the National access; $10/month for unlimited or $0.10/minute. I don't pay it because I can use my free long distance when I'm out of state, which is rarely, anyway. If I spent a lot of time out of state, I'd pay the $10/month, gladly.
Verizon is now offering it, but not in all their service areas. I have a friend who works at Radio Shack who told me that Sprint is now offering it. He said they use a different technology, something to do with the internet, but I didn't really pay any attention to him. He tried to get me to dump my Nextel and switch to the Sprint, and I simply said, "Who would I talk to? Everyone uses Nextel", and he had to agree.
