AT&T is pushing its push-to-talk services expected to be commercially available this November.
AT&T Enhanced PTT will offer quick calling and group talking mobile apps, smartphones and 4G LTE. Push-to-Talk allows the phone to act as walkie-talkie and also as GPS tracking device for employers. Push to Talk calls can be made to one person or to a group of people.
Current choices of PTT devices include the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Rugby Smart, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Bold 990. Companies that pre-register can get up to $100 off compatible smartphones.
With AT&T Enhanced PTT services, businesses and organizations of all sizes will have these expected features:
- Call up to 250 people with the push of a button.
- See who's available to talk immediately with AT&T Enhanced PTT's presence indicators.
- Download the AT&T Enhanced PTT client to compatible mobile devices, without any special configuration.
- Allow supervisors to override PTT calls in order to communicate important, time-sensitive messages to their teams.
- Use mobile applications, GPS or cameras on their phones during PTT calls.
- Choose from up to six different handset options at launch.
Future plans for the AT&T's Enhanced PTT solution include dispatching software for businesses that need to direct employees to specific places at specific times. A taxicab company, for instance, could use the location-aware dispatch application to determine which driver is closest to a pickup location, and then call the driver over PTT.
Organizations that simply can't wait until November to start using AT&T Enhanced PTT can sign up now.
AT&T also offers Enhanced PTT charter program for organizations that want to evaluate the solution before registering.
ATT will no doubt be issuing rugged Android phones with dispatch team capabilities to improve field safety of their workers and beta test a highly valuable service for any business with mobile work teams.