Evaluation of Cellular Push-to-Talk Technology for First Responder Communications

This report presents the initial evaluation of cellular push-to-talk technology and its functionality for enhancing two-way communications for first responders. Cellular push-to- talk (PTT) is a new class of mobile telephony service that enables instant one-to-one and one-to-many half-duplex communications on cellular phones making them work like two-way push-to-talk radios. This report provides a brief overview of push-to-talk systems and service factors of prime concern to public safety users. It presents a detailed discussion of the testing and performance evaluation of three PTT systems with nationwide coverage: Nextel's Direct Connect, Verizon Wireless' Push-to-Talk, and Sprint's Ready Link. The performance evaluation served to identify that PTT is a valuable technology for public safety users who can benefit from easy, instant access to other users nationwide. All three services could stand performance improvement. Key areas of improvement include: