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U.S. Cellular Scales Back PTT

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Geeze

muchdrama

Apr 6, 2007, 3:16 PM
I could have told US Cellular this two years ago.

Why on earth would the basic subscriber use PTT over mobile to mobile?

Just completely stupid decision making.
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alejandro

Apr 6, 2007, 3:41 PM
Customers ask for things they dont really want. They want walkie talkie phones, but when you tell them they dont communicate with nextel phones, the decide to go for a regular plan.

Before us cellular offered blackberries people always asked me about them and when we would get them, after they came out, people want treos. It's what happens when a company can't keep up with trends.
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jrfdsf

Apr 7, 2007, 4:49 PM
Speed. Instant communication vs. slow cellular connection speeds. PTT NEVER roams, never uses a single daytime minute, under any circumstances. Not true for M2M. Voice mail is not covered under free M2M, and calling someone can result in being routed to their voice mail. If you are roaming and make a call, it's burning your daytime minutes. PTT doesn't roam.

PTT will work when phone lines are jammed and circuits are busy. PTT will also work better inside of buildings where reception is low. When you make a PTT call, the other person cannot hear you or anyone else unless you push the button, so you can confer privately with someone DURING the course of a call.

Free M2M cannot effectively be utilized by someone operating equipment or for...
(continues)
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alejandro

Apr 7, 2007, 8:23 PM
Voice mail is free M2M, your own and others.
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jrfdsf

Apr 8, 2007, 9:53 AM
Voicemail uses daytime minutes. Always has.
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alejandro

Apr 8, 2007, 11:11 AM
Oh! I'm sorry, and here i thought this was a story about us cellular. If it was i could tell you that your own number is a us cellular number.
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swoodrow79

Apr 8, 2007, 1:07 PM
US Cellular is one of the only carriers that considers checking your own VM a M2M call (from USC's FAQ page):



Mobile to Mobile:

1. What is Mobile-to-Mobile?
2. Are calls to Voice Mail rated as Mobile-to-Mobile?
3. Is the Mobile-to-Mobile calling area different than my calling plan's calling area?
4. How much does Mobile-to-Mobile cost?
5. Do both parties have to have Mobile-to-Mobile to receive the Mobile-to-Mobile rate?
6. What about calls to/from TalkTracker customers?
7. What if I have Night & Weekend Minutes, plus Mobile-to_Mobile and I make a Mobile-to-Mobile call at night or on the weekend, how is this call rated?


1. What is Mobile-to-Mobile?


Mobile-to-Mobile is a feature that discounts a U.S. Cellular c...
(continues)
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jrfdsf

Apr 8, 2007, 8:38 PM
I was talking about the big four myself. That's great that U.S. Cellular allows that. The big four consider a call to VM as not being M2M.

PTT is still king as far as not roaming, or the other caller not being "in" and costing them their daytime minutes (because they are on an old plan).
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alejandro

Apr 8, 2007, 11:15 PM
That's great and everything, but if you want to talk about other sprint's voice mail and PTT, the sprint forum is the best place for that, but when you respond in a story about us cellular it's good to know about us cellular. I also would challenge your speaker phone vs ptt "point". but you used your deceptive wording again and threw in a variable so i took that as not being truth anyway.

When i had my 4750 it was great voice activated dialing and full duplex speaker. If i wanted to be one of those annoying nextel people i could have been, but i dont care to have the rest of the mall or street hear my conversation. And when people do that nextel barge in restraunts i want to beat the crap out of the idiot.
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jrfdsf

Apr 9, 2007, 9:36 AM
The good thing about Nextel phones is that you can turn the speaker off and have a private conversation over the radio. When I'm in public, that's usually what I do.

A lot of folks are starting to use their speakerphones in public now, and it is very annoying.
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alejandro

Apr 9, 2007, 10:00 AM
I would say i don't like hearing peoples conversations in the mall but the quality is so poor i only hear loud blaring jibberish. The whole "Customers using more M2M" is just a ruse. Really, we don't have the customers for it. When you only have about 6 million customers how much money can you really make off a PTT program?

While we offer free incoming calls and free nights and weekends nationwide our mobile to mobile still only applies in our owned areas that are digital. Whereas the PTT works anywhere now.
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jrfdsf

Apr 9, 2007, 10:19 AM
One reason the quality sounds poor is because most folks turn the volume up way too loud. When I do use my speaker, usually at work, I only have it on about 4 maybe 5.

I'm not arguing against your PTT. I have said I like PTT better than free M2M, although many folks seem to prefer it over the walkie. I've never tried Cellular One's PTT service. CO doesn't offer service in my area, so I have Nextel. Mainly because of my job.

I have a tracfone that I use when I'm not in a Nextel service area (i.e. the boonies), and it roams a lot of times on Cellular One. Never had a problem.
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alejandro

Apr 9, 2007, 11:29 AM
Us Cellular you mean? I never had mobile to mobile on my plan, i always prefered free incoming. There is no real difference between a good speaker phone with voice activated dialing and PTT.
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algorithmplus

Apr 8, 2007, 6:54 PM
I have Cingular and calls to voicemail are billed as "MTM", or mobile-to-mobile
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