Nextel pushes new push to talk features
Nextel Communications wants its popular walkie-talkie cell phone feature to work when a wireless network isn't available, a move that could give it a leg up on carriers that offer similar so-called push-to-talk technology.
At an investor conference Wednesday, Nextel Chief Executive Tim Donahue described the new service as an "off-network push to talk" with a much shorter range than the company's current nationwide DirectConnect push-to-talk service.
Nextel equipment supplier Motorola developed the technology for the new service, which relies on an extra radio inside each cell phone. "We've had a lot of calls for this, especially from those customers moving outside coverage," Donahue said.
With push to talk, callers need only push a single button to connect to another cell phone. It happens in less than a second, as with walkie-talkies. Because there's no time spent dialing or making a connection to a network, calls are shorter and less expensive than usual.
Nextel also intends to soon introduce NextMail, a wireless e-mail service that lets people attach sound recordings so anyone can listen to them using a personal computer, Barry West, chief technology officer at the company, said at the conference. "It's pretty cool. We are just getting it to market."
