Verizon Push to Talk

Can anyone tell me how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with Verizon's Push to Talk System. I currently have a Nextel because of the Direct Connect Feature, but overall the coverage is not what I want it to be and I'm wondering if perhaps the advantages of the "Walkie-Talkie" system of Nextel might not in effect be realized in a Verizon Product with the excellent coverage which Verizon provides. Any thoughts?

Someone else my jump in, but i think the push to talk system by verizon, everyone has to have same phone code, i don't think its like Nextel where all you need is the DC number of the person you want to talk to.

The other diadvantage is that you will only be able to "push to talk" to other Verizon users who have "push to talk". And, unlike Nextel, Verizon just does not have that many customers on their "push to talk" network. It's not a very widely used service (compared to Nextel, that is).

Yeah I didn't think Verizon's Push-2-talk would be as good as Nextel's when I was wondering about the differneces betweeen the two. Verizon doesn't have the cool chirp sounds Nextel does, do they?

Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that Verizon's PTT is of any lower quality than Nextel's. I merely point out that you will have fewer options of who you can talk too.

As for the "chirp", I am sure that Verizon has their own proprietary sound when you connect to another user.

Thanks for the information..but I'd really like to know at a base level whether it works or not. I was told by the salespeople that the push to talk is of limited use because as paulcman points out, not many people employ the system, so who would you use it with? My plan was to by several phones for me, my girlfriend, and my Dad..then have all of the Verizon coverage advantages, but with the "Nextel" convenience.

Anyone know what Verizon's plans are for their PTT service? Are they letting this die a slow death, or do they plan to resurrect it somehow...and, what about phones for this service? The last time I checked, they only offered one phone with PTT and now even that phone is "out of stock". Looks pretty bad.

Thanks Ellen...sounds interesting...any hints as to what the story will be with it? Faster connection times maybe?

Thing about Verizon if they can get a PTT service it will most likely run on their rev a EVDO. Verizon has a huge Rev A footprint so it would be great coverage wise.

I know that it will involve Qualcomm.