Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Delay on push-to-talk handsets will be conversation stopper

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:05:28 -0500

Delay on push-to-talk handsets will be conversation stopper

Harry Yeates

Users of the first push-to-talk (PTT) voice services in the UK will 
experience round-trip call delays of up to four seconds. 

This is due to the lack of quality of service (QoS) provision in 
GPRS networks, making two-way conversation problematic. 

In the US PTT is a designed-in feature of networks and handsets from 
operators such as Nextel, so delay times are limited to a few tenths 
of a second, and walkie-talkie-like use is straightforward. 

But in Europe the facility will initially appear via software-based 
implementations in smartphones, on existing packet-switched networks 
in which starting up a session can take up to seven seconds. As a 
result, the first GPRS-based services are likely to be instant 
messaging applications. 

"The first cases will be on GPRS which doesn't support QoS, there 
are no guarantees about delay, latency and so on," said Steve 
Griffin, wireless technology analyst at PA Consulting. "It's going 
to be difficult to hold a conversation." 

Griffin, who is giving a paper at this week's Push-to-Talk World 
Summit on the technical issues of PPT roll out, said the push-to-
talk over cellular standard being developed by equipment suppliers 
such as Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens, is based on 3G, which includes 
QoS measures. However, he doesn't expect to see widespread PTT-
capable 3G until at least the middle of next year. 

In the US, PTT's biggest users are businessmen, but in Europe 
operators are still unsure how to position the services, how to 
price them, and which markets to target. For example, as long as PTT 
uses smartphones it will suffer from high handset costs that could 
exclude the youth market. 

Basic services typically associated with PTT include calls to user-
defined groups, information on whether fellow users are present on 
the network, and, at a higher level, data over PTT, for example 
enabling fleet drivers to submit time sheets remotely.

http://www.manufacturing.net/article/CA405502?ticker=T 

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