Industry Blasts Verizon PTT

After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
company's application.

Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.

At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it, due
in large part to call set-up and intra-call latency problems. Those
critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.

Read the whole story here:

http://telephonyonline.com/microsite...eid=7&siteid=3

--
Mark

[posted via phonescoop.com]

---

› See More: Industry Blasts Verizon PTT

Mark F wrote:
> After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> company's application.
>
> Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
> Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.
>
> At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it, due
> in large part to call set-up and intra-call latency problems. Those
> critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.
>
> Read the whole story here:
>
> http://telephonyonline.com/microsite...eid=7&siteid=3
>

Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
to hurt), Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),
and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
interest bonds. So the score for the day is-
Verizon- bad news
PCS- worse news
Nextel- really good news

I especially liked the part of the article (not posted) that talked
about Verizon's plan to push 3 or 4 fixes over the next couple of years
to address the latency issue. They say that each fix will reduce the
latency by milliseconds (no kidding). Is the hope to make a really long
connect time just long?

Mark F wrote:
> After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> company's application.
>
> Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
> Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.
>
> At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it, due
> in large part to call set-up and intra-call latency problems. Those
> critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.
>
> Read the whole story here:
>
> http://telephonyonline.com/microsite...eid=7&siteid=3
>

Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
to hurt), Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),
and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
interest bonds. So the score for the day is-
Verizon- bad news
PCS- worse news
Nextel- really good news

I especially liked the part of the article (not posted) that talked
about Verizon's plan to push 3 or 4 fixes over the next couple of years
to address the latency issue. They say that each fix will reduce the
latency by milliseconds (no kidding). Is the hope to make a really long
connect time just long?

On 2003-09-19, Mark F wrote:
> After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> company's application.

Of course they did, how often to people actually read the reports that the
critics write? The ones who do are usually skeptical and want to see for
themselves and end up in a 2 year contract.

>
> Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.

Perhaps that's because the people who are using Verizon's are either current
Verizon customers or people who don't know that it's more like
Push-To-Wait---Along-Time.

> Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.

I wonder if Fisher Price makes handsets, 'cause I imagine that's who's going
to make 'em for VZW.

> At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it,

Why would they be impressed with something that doesn't even work in the
commercials?

> Those critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.

Gotta love that less-than-one-second deal. Of course who knows what VZW will
do with their PTT offering in the next 10 years. True they didn't work as hard
as Nextel, but they pretty much have the man power and being linked to a baby
bell gives them quite the advantage over Nextel coverage wise. One thing I do
hope that comes out of this is that Nextel becomes more competitive with their
pricing, that'll definitely push them ahead of the pack to really compete with
VZW.


--
..-surtin-. | Forgive your enemies, but don't forget their names.
-o) | -- John F. Kennedy
/\ |
_\_v |

On 2003-09-19, Mark F wrote:
> After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> company's application.

Of course they did, how often to people actually read the reports that the
critics write? The ones who do are usually skeptical and want to see for
themselves and end up in a 2 year contract.

>
> Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.

Perhaps that's because the people who are using Verizon's are either current
Verizon customers or people who don't know that it's more like
Push-To-Wait---Along-Time.

> Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.

I wonder if Fisher Price makes handsets, 'cause I imagine that's who's going
to make 'em for VZW.

> At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it,

Why would they be impressed with something that doesn't even work in the
commercials?

> Those critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.

Gotta love that less-than-one-second deal. Of course who knows what VZW will
do with their PTT offering in the next 10 years. True they didn't work as hard
as Nextel, but they pretty much have the man power and being linked to a baby
bell gives them quite the advantage over Nextel coverage wise. One thing I do
hope that comes out of this is that Nextel becomes more competitive with their
pricing, that'll definitely push them ahead of the pack to really compete with
VZW.


--
..-surtin-. | Forgive your enemies, but don't forget their names.
-o) | -- John F. Kennedy
/\ |
_\_v |

As it would seem that many folks on both sides of this discussion bring
up some good points, I wanted to have my own PTT experience to speak
of... so I stopped by my local VZW store where I originally signed up
for service. When I asked about the product, the salesperson informed
me that it was a PTT product that worked on the largest and best
performing national network. When I asked about the delay, he mentioned
there was one but as part of their return policy, if I'd like to try it
for 15 days I could bring it back with no hassles. He mentioned that
while a few were returned, it was selling like crazy and the returns
often didn't have to do with the delay. I did notice three other people
in there buying Motorola V60p's and there wasn't anybody in the customer
service section returning phones. So... while we here may see all the
reports of the delay and whatnot, the average consumer doesn't read
trade magazines or know about phonescoop or usenet. And hell, I would
have probably tried it too had I not wanted to spend money on a new
phone when my current one works fine...

just my 2c...

--
Verizon customer/ formerly Cingular user/ formerly Sprint PCS user


surtin <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> On 2003-09-19, Mark F wrote:
> > After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> > market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> > strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> > company's application.
>
> Of course they did, how often to people actually read the reports that the
> critics write? The ones who do are usually skeptical and want to see for
> themselves and end up in a 2 year contract.
>
> >
> > Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> > the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
>
> Perhaps that's because the people who are using Verizon's are either current
> Verizon customers or people who don't know that it's more like
> Push-To-Wait---Along-Time.
>
> > Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> > ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> > application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> > handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.
>
> I wonder if Fisher Price makes handsets, 'cause I imagine that's who's going
> to make 'em for VZW.
>
> > At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> > push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it,
>
> Why would they be impressed with something that doesn't even work in the
> commercials?
>
> > Those critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> > standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.
>
> Gotta love that less-than-one-second deal. Of course who knows what VZW will
> do with their PTT offering in the next 10 years. True they didn't work as hard
> as Nextel, but they pretty much have the man power and being linked to a baby
> bell gives them quite the advantage over Nextel coverage wise. One thing I do
> hope that comes out of this is that Nextel becomes more competitive with their
> pricing, that'll definitely push them ahead of the pack to really compete with
> VZW.
>
>
> --
> ..-surtin-. | Forgive your enemies, but don't forget their names.
> -o) | -- John F. Kennedy
> /\ |
> _\_v |

[posted via phonescoop.com]

As it would seem that many folks on both sides of this discussion bring
up some good points, I wanted to have my own PTT experience to speak
of... so I stopped by my local VZW store where I originally signed up
for service. When I asked about the product, the salesperson informed
me that it was a PTT product that worked on the largest and best
performing national network. When I asked about the delay, he mentioned
there was one but as part of their return policy, if I'd like to try it
for 15 days I could bring it back with no hassles. He mentioned that
while a few were returned, it was selling like crazy and the returns
often didn't have to do with the delay. I did notice three other people
in there buying Motorola V60p's and there wasn't anybody in the customer
service section returning phones. So... while we here may see all the
reports of the delay and whatnot, the average consumer doesn't read
trade magazines or know about phonescoop or usenet. And hell, I would
have probably tried it too had I not wanted to spend money on a new
phone when my current one works fine...

just my 2c...

--
Verizon customer/ formerly Cingular user/ formerly Sprint PCS user


surtin <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> On 2003-09-19, Mark F wrote:
> > After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> > market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> > strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> > company's application.
>
> Of course they did, how often to people actually read the reports that the
> critics write? The ones who do are usually skeptical and want to see for
> themselves and end up in a 2 year contract.
>
> >
> > Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> > the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
>
> Perhaps that's because the people who are using Verizon's are either current
> Verizon customers or people who don't know that it's more like
> Push-To-Wait---Along-Time.
>
> > Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> > ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> > application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> > handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.
>
> I wonder if Fisher Price makes handsets, 'cause I imagine that's who's going
> to make 'em for VZW.
>
> > At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> > push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it,
>
> Why would they be impressed with something that doesn't even work in the
> commercials?
>
> > Those critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> > standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.
>
> Gotta love that less-than-one-second deal. Of course who knows what VZW will
> do with their PTT offering in the next 10 years. True they didn't work as hard
> as Nextel, but they pretty much have the man power and being linked to a baby
> bell gives them quite the advantage over Nextel coverage wise. One thing I do
> hope that comes out of this is that Nextel becomes more competitive with their
> pricing, that'll definitely push them ahead of the pack to really compete with
> VZW.
>
>
> --
> ..-surtin-. | Forgive your enemies, but don't forget their names.
> -o) | -- John F. Kennedy
> /\ |
> _\_v |

[posted via phonescoop.com]

Nextel's issuing debt bonds is not necessarily good news. They are
using the equity market to raise funds that their quarter over quarter
cash flow could not produce. They will have to pay millions in
administation fees to the underwriter and millions more over time in
interest payments. I believe I read that the bonds mature in 2011...
that's a long time for the interest to compound, especially on a 7.00+%
senior note.

I certainly agree though that Sprint PCS' decision to cut costs by over
a billion dollars could have a huge negative impact on their workforce.

As far as VZW... if they trim the latency, that will provide more and
better competition within the marketplace, resulting in better products
for us consumers, and probably better pricing, too. So I'm for it...
let's see how long it takes to occur.

--
Verizon customer/ formerly Cingular user/ formerly Sprint PCS user


Scott Stephenson <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> Mark F wrote:
> > After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> > market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> > strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> > company's application.
> >
> > Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> > the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
> > Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> > ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> > application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> > handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.
> >
> > At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> > push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it, due
> > in large part to call set-up and intra-call latency problems. Those
> > critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> > standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.
> >
> > Read the whole story here:
> >
> > http://telephonyonline.com/microsite...eid=7&siteid=3
> >
>
> Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
> to hurt), Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
> of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),
> and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
> interest bonds. So the score for the day is-
> Verizon- bad news
> PCS- worse news
> Nextel- really good news
>
> I especially liked the part of the article (not posted) that talked
> about Verizon's plan to push 3 or 4 fixes over the next couple of years
> to address the latency issue. They say that each fix will reduce the
> latency by milliseconds (no kidding). Is the hope to make a really long
> connect time just long?
>

[posted via phonescoop.com]

Nextel's issuing debt bonds is not necessarily good news. They are
using the equity market to raise funds that their quarter over quarter
cash flow could not produce. They will have to pay millions in
administation fees to the underwriter and millions more over time in
interest payments. I believe I read that the bonds mature in 2011...
that's a long time for the interest to compound, especially on a 7.00+%
senior note.

I certainly agree though that Sprint PCS' decision to cut costs by over
a billion dollars could have a huge negative impact on their workforce.

As far as VZW... if they trim the latency, that will provide more and
better competition within the marketplace, resulting in better products
for us consumers, and probably better pricing, too. So I'm for it...
let's see how long it takes to occur.

--
Verizon customer/ formerly Cingular user/ formerly Sprint PCS user


Scott Stephenson <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> Mark F wrote:
> > After one month of push-to-talk competition between Verizon Wireless and
> > market incumbent Nextel Communications, Verizon is insistent it has made
> > strong inroads—even as critics lambaste the service quality of the
> > company's application.
> >
> > Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said last week that
> > the company's push-to-talk service is selling ahead of expectations.
> > Dick Lynch, chief technical officer, said the carrier already has
> > ordered more Motorola V60p push-to-talk enabled phones based on the
> > application's early success. Verizon plans to make a second push-to-talk
> > handset available before Christmas, Lynch said.
> >
> > At the same time, however, analysts and users who have tried Verizon's
> > push-to-talk offering maintain that they are not impressed with it, due
> > in large part to call set-up and intra-call latency problems. Those
> > critics claim Verizon's service lags behind the less-than-one-second
> > standard that has been Nextel's mantra the past 10 years.
> >
> > Read the whole story here:
> >
> > http://telephonyonline.com/microsite...eid=7&siteid=3
> >
>
> Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
> to hurt), Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
> of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),
> and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
> interest bonds. So the score for the day is-
> Verizon- bad news
> PCS- worse news
> Nextel- really good news
>
> I especially liked the part of the article (not posted) that talked
> about Verizon's plan to push 3 or 4 fixes over the next couple of years
> to address the latency issue. They say that each fix will reduce the
> latency by milliseconds (no kidding). Is the hope to make a really long
> connect time just long?
>

[posted via phonescoop.com]

Scott Stephenson wrote:


>
> Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
> to hurt),

It's negativity fueled by people's personal alliances. Verizon isn't
one to continue pushing something if it's clearly a flop. And frankly,
the fact that Nextel NEEDS to push the latency thing in their ads is an
indication to me that they're scared, and that they are feeling an
impact from Verizon PTT. If it truly wasn't a threat to them, they
wouldn't give Verizon's PTT offering the time of day in their ads, or in
their statements to the press.


> Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
> of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),

Layoffs were never once mentioned in the press release, much less was a
number given.


> and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
> interest bonds.

Well, guess you're not short-selling Nextel stock today, huh?

Scott Stephenson wrote:


>
> Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
> to hurt),

It's negativity fueled by people's personal alliances. Verizon isn't
one to continue pushing something if it's clearly a flop. And frankly,
the fact that Nextel NEEDS to push the latency thing in their ads is an
indication to me that they're scared, and that they are feeling an
impact from Verizon PTT. If it truly wasn't a threat to them, they
wouldn't give Verizon's PTT offering the time of day in their ads, or in
their statements to the press.


> Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
> of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),

Layoffs were never once mentioned in the press release, much less was a
number given.


> and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
> interest bonds.

Well, guess you're not short-selling Nextel stock today, huh?

Nextel scared??? Give me a break. I was in a Nextel store today. There were
three sales people in there & the store was mobbed. When I went in, the
clerk said there would be a twenty minute wait. Nextel is thriving.


"Isaiah Beard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Scott Stephenson wrote:
>
>
> >
> > Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
> > to hurt),
>
> It's negativity fueled by people's personal alliances. Verizon isn't
> one to continue pushing something if it's clearly a flop. And frankly,
> the fact that Nextel NEEDS to push the latency thing in their ads is an
> indication to me that they're scared, and that they are feeling an
> impact from Verizon PTT. If it truly wasn't a threat to them, they
> wouldn't give Verizon's PTT offering the time of day in their ads, or in
> their statements to the press.
>
>
> > Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
> > of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),
>
> Layoffs were never once mentioned in the press release, much less was a
> number given.
>
>
> > and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
> > interest bonds.
>
> Well, guess you're not short-selling Nextel stock today, huh?
>
>

Nextel scared??? Give me a break. I was in a Nextel store today. There were
three sales people in there & the store was mobbed. When I went in, the
clerk said there would be a twenty minute wait. Nextel is thriving.


"Isaiah Beard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Scott Stephenson wrote:
>
>
> >
> > Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
> > to hurt),
>
> It's negativity fueled by people's personal alliances. Verizon isn't
> one to continue pushing something if it's clearly a flop. And frankly,
> the fact that Nextel NEEDS to push the latency thing in their ads is an
> indication to me that they're scared, and that they are feeling an
> impact from Verizon PTT. If it truly wasn't a threat to them, they
> wouldn't give Verizon's PTT offering the time of day in their ads, or in
> their statements to the press.
>
>
> > Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
> > of up to 10,000 layoffs (can we ***** t-r-o-u-b-l-e boys and girls?),
>
> Layoffs were never once mentioned in the press release, much less was a
> number given.
>
>
> > and all Nextel could announce was the retirement of $1 billion in high
> > interest bonds.
>
> Well, guess you're not short-selling Nextel stock today, huh?
>
>

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 01:12:53 GMT, Scott Stephenson
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
>to hurt), Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
>of up to 10,000 layoffs

Due to outsourcing it could be 3-5k. AT&T Wireless has already
outsourced, but I don't see any handwringing about them...

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 01:12:53 GMT, Scott Stephenson
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Wow- interesting news day. Verizon gets panned on their PTT (that had
>to hurt), Sprint announces $1 billion 'restructuring' with the potential
>of up to 10,000 layoffs

Due to outsourcing it could be 3-5k. AT&T Wireless has already
outsourced, but I don't see any handwringing about them...