Nextel Communications Inc. may have finally found some competition for its highly touted Direct Connect walkie-talkie service as independent testing of Alltel Corp.’s recently launched Touch2Talk service showed similar performance to what most analysts have dubbed Direct Connect’s industry-standard service levels and superior performance to competing offers from Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS.
Andy Seybold of the Seybold Group noted in head-to-head tests of the four current push-to-talk offerings in Phoenix late last month that Alltel’s Touch2Talk service was between two and four times slower in initial call set-up compared with Nextel’s Direct Connect service, but provided nearly identical intra-call latency performance. Verizon Wireless’ Push-to-Talk service and Sprint PCS’ Ready Link posted more erratic and slower performance results.
Specifically, Seybold’s admittedly unscientific testing showed Direct Connect set-up times of between eight-tenths and one second compared with between 2.4 and 3.2 seconds for Touch2Talk, between 3.6 and 9.8 seconds for Ready Link and between 6.2 and 7.8 seconds for Verizon Wireless’ Push-to-Talk service. Intra-call latency, which Seybold termed “volley times,” showed less than one second for both Nextel and Alltel, between 1.2 and 1.5 seconds for Sprint PCS and between 1.9 and 2.4 seconds for Verizon Wireless.
“Nextel retains bragging rights to the fastest set up time but is now on an equal footing with volley times over the Alltel network,” Seybold said in a report, adding Alltel’s “system is the only real threat to Nextel in terms of its existing customer base.”
Performance numbers provided by Alltel’s technology partner Kodiak Networks Inc. last year showed the service provided a competitive call set-up time of 3.5 seconds compared with 1.5 seconds for Nextel’s iDEN-based offering and voice latency of 150 milliseconds compared with Nextel’s 700 milliseconds. Both services provided superior performance to voice over Internet Protocol solutions similar to what is currently offered by Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS.
Kodiak attributed its near-Nextel level of performance to a number of features including the use of voice channels instead of the data channels used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS’ Winphoria-based VoIP offerings. Kodiak’s service also trumps all of its competitors by allowing Alltel to offer Touch2Talk in its analog coverage areas instead of just on its digital network.
“Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless have offerings that will appeal to family and friends, and what I call `voice instant messaging,’ ” Seybold said. “But today, only Alltel’s system is good enough to compete head-to-head with Nextel and other iDEN system providers.”
Similar comments were made by Yankee Group wireless service analyst Adam Guy, who noted that while he did not conduct head-to-head tests, testing in the Tampa, Fla., area of Alltel’s Touch2Talk offering provided comparable intra-call latency performance to Nextel’s Direct Connect service and was only slightly slower in initial call set-up.
Guy also said that Alltel’s sound quality was at least comparable to Nextel’s service and was superior and more consistent than the IP-based offerings from Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS. Kodiak has noted that by using voice channels, push-to-talk sessions using its service will sound the same as traditional voice calls.
Guy added that the only negative for potential Alltel Touch2Talk customers is that Alltel’s footprint does not have the national scope of its larger competitors. On a positive note, Alltel does cover a number of rural markets.
“If it’s a nationwide business, Alltel does not offer the footprint that Nextel does,” Guy said. “But if it’s a regional business in areas that are covered by Alltel’s network, the Touch2Talk service provides a clear alternative.”
Additional push-to-talk offerings are also expected to launch in the near future as Sonim Technologies Inc. announced last week that it has begun shipping its Push to talk over Cellular Client following extensive field testing.
Analysts expect the standards-based VoIP service to be adopted by a number of GSM/GPRS-based operators around the world including Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which have voiced support of the platform, and has the backing of a number of handset manufacturers. Sonim reported a strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to deliver push-to-talk capable handsets based on the PoC standard, and expects to announce additional agreements later this year.
