Push-To-Talk over Cellular Networks
One of the major benefits of radio systems is the ability to transmit to all radios listening on a channel allowing a single message to be heard by many people at the same time. Radios also allow those people to respond so that everyone on the channel hears the conversation. The weakness of this feature is that to take advantage of this system you need to have radios that operate on a given frequency or system which is geographically limited.
Compare radios’ one-to-many communications capability with cell phones which only allow you to call a single person or cell phone at a time but allow this capability over a multi-vendor, multi-device nationwide cellular network.
Push to Talk over Cellular is an application that allows organizations to take advantage of the one-to-many communications capability of radios with the multi-vendor nationwide cellular network. Push-to-Talk over Cellular (POC) is a service offering that allows cell phone users to use their phones as handheld radios in areas with cellular coverage. Cellular carriers and app developers are providing the capability of push-to-talk on cell phone devices. But traditional radio vendors are also providing radio-like devices that operate on cellular networks and providing systems that can link radio systems to cellular-based PTT applications.
Additional Resources
How will PPT-Capable Smartphones Impact Public Safety Communications?
Article in the magazine “Land Mobile” on PTT over cellular.
Roadmap to Implementing Mission Critical Push-To-Talk
This guide provided by Samsung outlines the core features and benefits of MCPTT and offers recommendations for public safety agencies to execute a successful transition to rugged smartphones with built-in MCPTT capabilities.
FirstNet to Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Connectivity
SAFECOM and NCSWIC Release LMR/LTE Integration: Best Practices Article
https://www.cisa.gov/blog/2022/05/03/safecom-and-ncswic-release-lmrlte-integration-best-practices
Safecom LMR LTE Integration: Best Practices White Paper