Wired News: ‘Push-to-Talk’ Spreading Fast

If you think drivers yammering on their cell phones are annoying, wait until another wireless service already popular among business users becomes even more prevalent in public: instant, two-way walkie-talkie chatter.
The radio technology frequently used by police officers, truckers, taxi drivers and IT managers is coming to many cell phones near you. All the major wireless carriers, which plan this year to join leader Nextel Communications in rolling out nationwide cell-phone walkie-talkie — or “push-to-talk” — service, have said the feature is not just for businesses.

Two jobs ago, I did a lot of on-site training for field technicians in the petroleum industry — every place was different, and every crew had their own quicks and practices, but two things were universal in each group:

1. Every group had Nextel radio phones.
2. All the techs hated them.

The reasons were pretty simple: sometimes, you just don’t want to pick the phone up — you’re busy, you’re not in the mood, you’re on your lunch break, this isn’t someone you want to talk to right now, or it’s just not a good place to have a chat.

The problem is, if your phone’s on, the guy who beeps you knows it’s on (it beeps differently if your phone’s off, and if it’s off, then why is it off?) — he knows that you’re there, and you get flack and resentment abrewin’ if you don’t answer. Thus, you answer, even when you wouldn’t if you had any choice in the matter (which you really don’t). My observation of these facts really killed my interest in the technology.

The thing, good and bad, about cell phones is that you’re much more connected, much more available than you once were, whether you want to be or not. If this article isn’t mostly hype, then what everyone’s about to realize is that that level of availability is about to treble.

Yeah, we use these for our techs, since they work both in the building and when they're visiting jobsites in the metro area. Haven't heard any complaints -- but I suspect strongly that the whole "on 24/7" is about to hit a sudden wall of non-acceptance with this feature, unless there is a really easy way to turn it off.

I mean, I have no problem with even Margie calling me any time she wants to -- so long as I can ignore the call because I'm busy with someone else, sitting in the head, or driving my car in weather. Fact is, I am reachable 24/7 -- I simply am not always willing to be reached, and having an even more shrilly insistent way to verbally IM me is not going to make me happy.

*bedeep* VOICE: Hey, Ian. What's the password for the Exchange server's local admin?

*bedeep* ME: *flush* You sure you really want to have this conversation here *flush* in the middle of *fart* the bath *explosive lactose intolerance* room of the metro?

*bedeep* VOICE: Uh... maybe not.

*bedeep* ME: Good. Please take me off your list.

I had one of those when I worked for AT&T. I worked the night shift, but the other supervisors and my manager didn't let that stop them from radioing me all day long. It was hell to be trying to sleep and to actually hear the voice of my boss nagging me from the speaker on the phone in the living room. I still have a pavlovian "tense up" reaction whenever I hear one of those things chirp.