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You mention Sprint as leading the charge and they've got issues of their own. I can't find an article at the moment, but Sprint is a provider of PTT/cell phone

by gregd 13y ago

You mention Sprint as leading the charge and they've got issues of their own. I can't find an article at the moment, but Sprint is a provider of PTT/cell phone services to a local Portland, OR area police force and that police department is being forced to look for another vendor because Sprint has proven to be really, really unreliable.

josh2600 13y ago
Sprint as two networks right now. One is the legacy iDen network they acquired in the Nextel deal, the other is their Sprint/Clearwire 4G WiMAX/LTE monstrosity. The iDen network is basically analog, so transactions like presence and push to talk are binary and the state is always transmittable. The same cannot be said of IP. This is a problem we've spent a lot of time working on and I can guarantee none of the Big Telcos have a solution yet. So the answer is, the iDen network's PTT is basically analog and easy to manage whereas the LTE network is IP but difficult to manage. They want people off of iDen because running two networks is a massive waste of money.
- kayfox 13y ago
  > The iDen network is basically analog, You mean the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network is analog, wait what? The actual problem why noone has come up with a solid way to support PTT on cell phones other than iDEN phones is because iDEN is a rare breed of radio system called a Cellular Trunked Radio System, it was designed to provide a trunked radio system that could scale to large footprints. Unfortunately it never caught on with anyone but Nextel and a few other providers, most likely because of the need to totally replace other systems. Project 25 did not have this issue because agencies could gradually transition from analog conventional and analog trunked systems to digital Project 25 trunked radio systems or hybrids thereof. So, iDEN was intended to primarily support trunked radio like features, Direct Connect and Group Connect are two of those, several bolt on upgrades later provided us with Nationwide Direct Connect and Nationwide Group Connect. This is why it performs so well at those (infact, from what I have seen, outperforming existing trunked radio systems).
  - josh2600 13y ago
    Well, that was an epic education. I feel rather foolish, but I really appreciate you taking the time to help correct my mistake :). I'm not as well-versed as I should be on wireless tech :/. That's really interesting; could you possibly recommend some additional resources where I could read further. Something beyond the wikipedia entries? Thanks again!!

by gregd 13y ago

josh2600 13y ago

Sprint as two networks right now. One is the legacy iDen network they acquired in the Nextel deal, the other is their Sprint/Clearwire 4G WiMAX/LTE monstrosity. The iDen network is basically analog, so transactions like presence and push to talk are binary and the state is always transmittable. The same cannot be said of IP. This is a problem we've spent a lot of time working on and I can guarantee none of the Big Telcos have a solution yet. So the answer is, the iDen network's PTT is basically analog and easy to manage whereas the LTE network is IP but difficult to manage. They want people off of iDen because running two networks is a massive waste of money.

kayfox 13y ago
> The iDen network is basically analog, You mean the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network is analog, wait what? The actual problem why noone has come up with a solid way to support PTT on cell phones other than iDEN phones is because iDEN is a rare breed of radio system called a Cellular Trunked Radio System, it was designed to provide a trunked radio system that could scale to large footprints. Unfortunately it never caught on with anyone but Nextel and a few other providers, most likely because of the need to totally replace other systems. Project 25 did not have this issue because agencies could gradually transition from analog conventional and analog trunked systems to digital Project 25 trunked radio systems or hybrids thereof. So, iDEN was intended to primarily support trunked radio like features, Direct Connect and Group Connect are two of those, several bolt on upgrades later provided us with Nationwide Direct Connect and Nationwide Group Connect. This is why it performs so well at those (infact, from what I have seen, outperforming existing trunked radio systems).
- josh2600 13y ago
  Well, that was an epic education. I feel rather foolish, but I really appreciate you taking the time to help correct my mistake :). I'm not as well-versed as I should be on wireless tech :/. That's really interesting; could you possibly recommend some additional resources where I could read further. Something beyond the wikipedia entries? Thanks again!!