Is this just b.s.?

As I suffer through yet another Met broadcast, I hear for the 11,000th time some telco provider flogging their "coast-to-coast walkie talkie." It sounds exactly like a cellphone. What's the diff -- a useful feature, or just b.s.?

I have no idea, but I thought that the walkie talkie thing was just some stupid feature ON a cell phone (?). And as proven by George Lopez, "life's better if you have a cell phone with a walkie talkie." Sounds like B.S.

And Greg, I had to suffer through a Mets sweep of the Reds on the 4th of July weekend

ITs nextel. It is a feature on a cell phone. Its also called push to talk. Some ppl find it useful particularly maintence and construction crews. Its useful for quick communications rather than getting someone's voicemail. however MANY people find it annoying

Avash '05 wrote:

I have no idea, but I thought that the walkie talkie thing was just some stupid feature ON a cell phone (?). And as proven by George Lopez, "life's better if you have a cell phone with a walkie talkie." Sounds like B.S.

And Greg, I had to suffer through a Mets sweep of the Reds on the 4th of July weekend

Is it an autoconnect to the incoming call without a ring tone (thus saving the 2.5 seconds to answer the ring)? What if there's an existing connection, does it just throw that onto a wait line (thus saving the 2.5 seconds to accept the call-waiting signal)?



Post Edited (07-11-03 23:09)

Well its faster to contact somebody too supposedly. And I think if you arent available (you can set it that way too if you are in a meeting) it wont connect.

We use those things at work - personally, I find them very annoying. You can use it like a regular cell phone, but there's also a pager/walkie-talkie feature, where you can select someone else on your "network" (someone else with a silly phone like yours) and page them. Their phone beeps, displays your name, and then they can talk back without having to dial a number and wait for a connection.

I hate it for a few reasons. The little chirping sounds that the phones make are extremely irritating, but the worst thing, I think, is that everyone around you can hear your conversation (like being on speakerphone all the time). Kinda defeats the purpose, in some cases. I don't really see any huge benefits to it, but apparently it's been marketed well, because a lot of people do use it.

Avash '05 wrote:
as proven by George Lopez, "life's better if you have a cell phone with a walkie talkie."

And by Kristen Davis. Personally, if there's any chance of Kristen Davis calling me to pick her up at the airport, I'm damn well gonna check my voice mail.

Personally, if there's any chance of Kristen Davis calling me to pick her up at the airport, I'm damn well gonna check her for Hepatitis C.

[q] but the worst thing, I think, is that everyone around you can hear your conversation (like being on speakerphone all the time). [/q]

I know the more recent models actually let you use it like a normal phone instead of a speakerphone.

I have a Nextel phone, and although I don't use the Direct Connect often (that's what the walkie talkie-type feature is called), what is extremely useful is that I can use my phone as a speaker phone while driving (thus not wearing an annoying little ear piece and not violating the law). I have the i90c, and there are two buttons on the top (when phone is closed). When a call comes in, you just push one to answer, talk over the speaker phone, then push the other to hang up. I use that all the time. And my service has been great so far throughout NY, NJ, Philadelphia area, and in the midwest.

Yeah, the walkie talkie is kind of annoying but the point is that you can talk to other Nextel users for free with it . That is, if you don't mind everyone hearing your conversation.

What I don't get is that the ads imply that while an ordinary cellular call won't reach someone the walkie talkie will. Well, if the person is available and has their Nextel phone handy to answer the walkie talkie, why wouldn't they be just as accessible by a standard call?

Having had a Nextel phone in both California and Connecticut before I stopped have a cell phone all together, I can say that it was a very nice feature. In some ways, its sort of like TiVo in that it is very hard to explain the utility to people that haven't used it. However, I'll take a shot.

Direct Connect has a several of useful features. At my job in Cali, when all the management level folks had a company cell phone it was very handy to find people in the building as we had space on the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th floors. Sure I guess you could flip open the phone and dial the other person but there was something to be said for the instant informal nature of Direct Connect. Maybe it would help to think of how IM and email are overlapping but complimentary technologies. I'd feel silly dialing Dave the facilities guy to see if he was on the 5th floor but it was very common to say "Hey Dave, you on 5?" "Yeah" "Okay, be there in sec." It was a great way to arrange face to face communications for people that wander all over a building in the course of their job. Think of how many times in your job you have a quick question for somebody but everytime you stop by their office they've stepped out 20 seconds before you got there. I guess it is probably an issue of corporate culture.

Second, time on Direct Connect doesn't count against your minutes; thus 15 or 20 10 second conversations over the course of a day that would otherwise eat up 20 minutes of time are instead free. It may sound silly but yes, you do actually use it that much when all your coworkers have it. It is particularly useful when a group of people are waiting for that one last person to go to lunch.

Third, it has a broadcast feature that will contact everyone on your group list simultaneously. These lists can be company wide or department specific or any other logical structure. If I had a really quick but urgent question for any one of the 4 software guys, I could buzz them all at once without wandering off to their office or calling them individually. Or you could imagine a receptionist at a small company needing someone, anyone, to come up front immediately to help deal with a shady walk-in. Likewise, I could imagine buzzing all the dept. heads to get a head count during a fire alarm.

In Connecticut, the only other person I knew with a Nextel phone was actually my wife. However, it was still incredibly handy to arrange our carpooling. In heavy traffic, I could contact her to give her an ETA without having to open my phone and dial to let her know I was right around block. Thus, she wouldn't waste 5-10 minutes hanging around in the lobby waiting for me to fight my way through traffic.

Earthshattering? No. Handy? Yes, more than you'd think.

(While I think of it, we had an interesting culture evolve around use of Direct Connect without anyone ever actually discussing it. You'd never just press the button and start talking since you had no idea if they were in a meeting or what. Instead, you'd pull up their name and press the button and release. This had the effect of paging them. The other person could then look at the phone and either ignore you or press the button to respond. Thus, it was very handy as a pager of sorts when you wanted the person but voice mail wasn't useful.)

I signed up for an AT&T Wireless account 14 months ago with two phones on it. They were both Nokia 5165's and I don't want any crap from toy snobs, they were great phones with great reception that I could do damn near anything to without breaking.

That is, except for mixing the jack from my speaker power supply with that from my charger. With both phones.

Clearly, the phones didn't like this, because though they continued to work, they never worked again with any charger and gradually they died. Which is where they are today -- perfectly good phones that just won't charge, sitting next to my computer, and costing me $30/month each to be decorative paper weights.

I took them into the AT&T Wireless Store where the salesperson told me I had to buy new phones, then showed me phones that started at about $150 -- roughly $125 more than I want to pay for a friggin cell phone when I have to pay for the plan, too.

So, what's my cheapest solution? Do I really need to replace the whole phone or can I fix the little metal contact the recharger jacks into? If I need a new phone, can I get an inexpensive phone that's "compatible" with my AT&T Plan? I tried a few stores like Radio Shack but they said their phones only work with Verizon Wireless.



Post Edited (07-18-03 17:27)

You should be able to get a new phone in the $50-80 range. The AT&T online site [www.attws.com] should have options, or you can try sites like www.point.com or Amazon.

If the chargers had identical connectors but swapping them killed your phone, it's most likely not a mechanical contact that's the problem. The speaker charger probably spits out more juice than the phone is designed to handle. Your phone's charging circuitry selflessly acted like a fuse to protect the rest of the phone. Very noble, very dead.

Greg,

You could try first to get new batteries. but more than likely I would think you fried them (well the charging unit at least). I would try to charge it one last time to be sure. You should only use the charger that came with the phone or one that you know is designed for your phone. Cheap batteries can be found here

[www.coolbattery.com]

You are out on the west coast right? If you are that would possibly explain the new phones costing so much. I think they stopped selling tdma phones (like the 5165) out west and are pushing GSM phones now.

Ok well you have a family plan I am gonna guess (2 lines at 30 a month is pretty cheap unless you meant 30 a month each line). unfortunately the GSM service doesnt have an equivalent really. So to keep your current plan you need to get new phones. The cheapest way would be to get them off some site like ebay. Make sure its a tdma phone and that it is locked to ATT or unlocked (cingular brand wont work). quick search on ebay shows new 5165 (which have been discontinued btw) at about $40 a shot. used obviously are pretty cheap maybe 10-15.

Also, you might have better luck calling customer service and maybe trying to order a phone that way. If you are on contract, you will have a hard time getting a discount. If not then they will generally deal with you. The reason is that phones are actually pretty expensive and the cell companies subsidize the price. When they still made the 5165's, the retail price would have been on the order of $300.

ATT has made a move to be a higher priced service and they arent as concerned to retain someone not spending that much anymore. So if you are off contract you might want to check out T-Mobile. Im not a huge fan but they are pretty cheap. and MUCH MUCH MUCH better than sprint.


btw I have a 5165 going on 3 years now. they are pretty tough but its too big for my liking.

The problem with trying to get the new phone from ATT is the subsidized prices on the main page are for new contracts not people currently under contract. I know it sounds stupid but thats AFAIK the current situation. It changed relatively recently I know.

Careful -

T-Mobile is MUCH MUCH MUCH better than Sprint, except in Ithaca, or New Jersey, or. . .

Ask some people in your local area before you switch services. Sprint's pretty good in some places, and atrocious in others. Sprint tends to be good in major metropolitan areas, Ithaca (don't ask - I guess it's the Cornell thing), and around major highways. But it's not always just an urban/rural issue. From what I understand, AT&T is great in DC, and awful in Chicago. Go figure.

If you need a phone that you can use frequently just about anywhere within the contintental US, Verizon is your best bet. If you just need something in major cities, you can pretty much get anything. If you need something in the U.S. and Europe, definitely go T-Mobile. If you need something for just your local area, take the cheapest company that has good coverage in that area. You can usually wrangle a 10 day trial period, so if worst comes to worst you can buy a new plan and drive around testing your phone.

Anyway, relying on info from people in random areas of the country could lead you to get a service that's always on roaming, and paying 45 cents a minute is just awful.

Rob,

Thanks. I'm on the east coast again -- DC. I like the larger size -- nothing annoys me more than the tiny buttons on the chic phones. My eyes or dexterity (or both) must be failing.

It'a a shame they discontinued the 5165's, which had a devoted following.

Christine,

> The speaker charger probably spits out more juice than the phone is designed to handle. Your phone's charging circuitry selflessly acted like a fuse to protect the rest of the phone. Very noble, very dead.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that is exactly what happened. I am... puzzled... that the color-coding for the power supply jack is exactly the same (black) and the size is exactly the same as the one for my ex-parrot cell phones. Silly me, I assumed the color meant voltage or impedence or anyway something to prevent me roasting my phone.



Post Edited (07-18-03 22:25)

Greg wrote:


Thanks. I'm on the east coast again -- DC. I like the larger size -- nothing annoys me more than the tiny buttons on the chic phones. My eyes or dexterity (or both) must be failing.

It'a a shame they discontinued the 5165's, which had a devoted following.

Not to make you feel old but my dad feels the same way. heh I would recommend the Nokia 6360 then possibly. I live in Arlington so I can tell you coverage for most of the services is pretty solid (cant have those congressmen losing their cell service now).

This might help you:

[www.phonescoop.com]

Its a list of all the recent phones that ATT has or had.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that is exactly what happened. I am... puzzled... that the color-coding for the power supply jack is exactly the same (black) and the size is exactly the same as the one for my ex-parrot cell phones. Silly me, I assumed the color meant voltage or impedence or anyway something to prevent me roasting my phone.

Most power cords with transformers have the exact same plug. Basically you just need a different transformer and you get an totally different charger. Makes it easy to make "Quick" chargers and such.

ATT - not so good in the DC metro (good reception with Verizon though) or the hills of northern PA (if you're planning on making trips northward)
however, there was one thing I did like about it - that number you could call that was an ATT service and you could get metro traffic reports and scores for college hockey. Traffic reports come in handy around here at rush hour.

Greg, you could also try to send the phones to Nokia and see if they'll fix it for you. As long as you haven't physically altered the appearance of the phone or made any obvious non warranty covered changes, they should be able to do something for you.

Otherwise, I manged to pick up a phone on an ATT plan off of Amazon once. The phone ended up costing me about $20 after $100+ of rebates from Nokia and Amazon and a gift certificate.

Rob, I think I've met you (and the wife)? You're Chris' friend? Trying to put names on this board to faces...

Three consecutive posts by DC'ers. That has to be a record. Richard Stott is also down here, in Alexandria. Any others?

judy '01 wrote:

ATT - not so good in the DC metro (good reception with Verizon though)

are you on gsm service or tdma? I havent seen many holes if any.

Otherwise, I manged to pick up a phone on an ATT plan off of Amazon once. The phone ended up costing me about $20 after $100+ of rebates from Nokia and Amazon and a gift certificate.

Those usually require a new plan, though.

Rob, I think I've met you (and the wife)? You're Chris' friend? Trying to put names on this board to faces...

That would have to be a negative. Im not married though I do know a bunch of Chris's. Only connection I have to anyone on this board (well besides Cornell) is I know Kyle (and was there at the start of the original board) and I met Tom Lento a couple of times because he was friend of a group I knew. I might have met others but I am not aware of any.