The first network-based “walkie-talkie” service for European mobile phones was launched by mobile operator Orange this week.
Orange’s Talk Now offering will let users chat by simply pushing a button, rather than dialling. Like traditional walkie-talkies, the service only works one way at a time, meaning users will be unable to interrupt one another as they can during a normal phone call.
However, Talk Now provides extra services, such as a buddy list showing who is available for chat. The service also permits push-to-talk (PTT) conversations to be set up between multiple users and conversations can be recorded and forwarded on to other users.
PTT services are already popular in the US, with some of the services costing a few dollars a month for unlimited calls. The cost of the new Orange service is yet to be finalised, but a spokeswoman told New Scientist the service will be “premium rate”.
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Chopped up
The most popular PTT service in the US is provided by Nextel. Its network uses packet switching to route calls, meaning voice data from the caller is chopped up into packets, sent, and then reassembled at the recipient’s end.
This is efficient because only relevant data – i.e. speech – is transmitted. This, plus the fact that PTT was designed into Nextel’s network from the start, makes it cheap to transmit the relatively low quality PTT calls.
In contrast, Orange’s Talk Now service will operate on top of the European GSM network. This uses circuit switching to route calls, meaning each call opens a new dedicated channel which remains open until the call ends. This is likely to make the service more costly more to operate.
PTT calls can also be made via the internet from enabled phones, using the net’s standard IP packet switching technology. But such services can take time to boot up and are more prone to disruption because the internet is far bigger and less reliable than Nextel’s private network.
Steep hill
“Talk Now provides the business community with an immediate and reliable way to better manage teams of people,” said CEO of the Orange Group Sol Trujillo. “The service also provides consumers with an ideal way to keep in touch with friends and family by making it easy to instantly communicate with each other as a group at the touch of a button.”
But John Delaney, at UK-based analysts Ovum, says it will depend on whether users are willing to pay for the extra functionality offered by Talk Now.
“The more complex a service is, the harder it is to get it moving,” he told New Scientist. “I’m not entirely sceptical, but they’ve got a pretty steep hill to climb.”
