Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Yes dear, over and out

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 00:11:52 -0500

DEC 12, 2003
Yes dear, over and out

Many in the US and Hong Kong have turned to walkie-talkies over the last 3 years
as you can
yak cheap

By Natalie Soh

FORGET the mobile phone. These days, in the United States and Hong Kong, men
contacting their wives from supermarkets and teens arranging meetings with
friends are using two-way walkie-talkies, the kind you see in TV cop shows.
The gadgets have become a big hit there over the last three years that millions
have turned to them. They may just take off here too.

Singapore's only walkie-talkie or 'push-to-talk' service provider, Digital
Network Access Communications (DNA), says it has plans to market its service -
called Grid - more aggressively to ordinary folk next year, especially the
young.
Right now it counts police officers, health inspectors, marine engineers,
couriers, taxi drivers and hoteliers among its 52,000-plus corporate users.

A major attraction of the walkie-talkie service is its basic cost: a flat $28 a
month no matter how long you yak. There are no charges per minute, or peak and
off-peak charges to consider.

While the basic subscription plan for a regular cellphone also starts at around
$28, and includes some SMS and free talk time, you are charged when you chat.

Walkie-talkies also offer optional features such as caller ID and SMS.

The system also offers features like being able to speak to, say, five friends
at the same time.
Another option transforms the gadget into a regular cellphone. There are various
price plans for these extras.
The growing use of walkie-talkies now is a result of great leaps in radio
technology in the last five or so years, when it became digital and gave users
clear voice signals and calls.

This is how the walkie-talkies work: You press a small button on the handset -
which looks just like a mobile phone - and it will automatically open a radio
frequency link for you and your friend to talk.

In the US, if you use the services of leading push-to-talk service provider
Nextel, you can talk to any one of its 12 million-plus subscribers in the
country.

At least one American company, fastmobile of Chicago, sells software that lets
people connect instantly with friends around the world.

The disadvantages: If you do not have the extras to 'turn' your walkie-talkie
into a regular phone, you can chat only with those who have walkie-talkies.

You also cannot speak simultaneously. Your friend has to listen when you speak
and vice-versa.
Still, a study of 1,300 cellphone users in the US by market research company
Zelos Group found that 45 per cent who subscribe to wireless phone companies
other than Nextel wanted - in the next cellphone they buy - a push-to-talk
option.
They also ranked being able to push to talk as the second most preferred feature
in a list of 10. Having an embedded digital camera was first, while having
Bluetooth wireless finished 10th.

A spokesman for Zelos put the appeal of pushing to talk over making a telephone
call down to 'being able to talk to a group instantly, without waiting for
someone to answer'.

It helps that the latest walkie-talkies come packed with features.
For instance, the Motorola i205 has an integrated Global Positioning Satellite
receiver that allows users to pinpoint exactly where they are.

But analysts that The Straits Times talked to were not entirely convinced the
walkie-talkie will be a viable alternative to the cellphone.

Technology analyst firm Frost and Sullivan's Manoj Menon believes it would take
a considerable price difference to get people to switch.

Reception here is also still patchy. But a spokesman for DNA said this would
change soon.
Said Mr Lim Meng Poo, chief executive officer of DNA: 'Radio can be a really fun
thing.
'Right now, we think of it as a blue-collar application, but you can chat and
chat without burning a hole in your pocket.'

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,224918,00.html?

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/