Verizon enhances critical communications, debuts Push-to-Talk Responder

Verizon has unveiled Push-to-Talk Responder, a mission-critical, interoperable-ready solution that delivers a more efficient way for first responders to seamlessly share and receive data, voice, and, in the future, video content to more comprehensively respond to a crisis.

Push-to-talk (PTT) is a means of instantaneous communication in cellular phone services that uses a button to switch a device from voice transmission mode to voice reception mode. Mobile phones used in this way emulate the radios that police and security personnel carry, with added capabilities of data and video transfer.

Verizon Push-to-Talk Responder is built and secured to international standard and complements the capabilities provided by Land Mobile Radio (LMR) networks, and expands those networks to a greater number of users. It’s designed to empower first responders to quickly assess a situation and formulate faster, more effective responses.

Users can communicate with each other and across agencies interoperably through text, data and, in the future, critical live video streaming. And because the Verizon Push-to-Talk Responder solution leverages international standards for mission-critical push-to-talk on the nation's most reliable network, it offers advanced LTE features to enable on-demand, instant communications.

“Using Verizon Push-to-Talk Responder, we are able to keep in contact from anywhere,” said Bruce Sandy, IT Director, Pender County, North Carolina EMS & Fire and one of the first to use Verizon Push-to-Talk Responder. “Interoperability across county lines with different radio systems is difficult to manage and maintain. Verizon Push-to-Talk Responder provides real-time communication without the need to carry multiple radios and switch back and forth between systems. It has improved our response time, and increased our ability to accurately provide information to the responders on the ground.”

“During emergencies, first responder communications often extend beyond verbal exchanges, and radio networks currently limit how information can be passed back and forth between agencies,” said Andrés Irlando, senior vice president and president, Public Sector and Verizon Connect at Verizon. “Verizon Push-to-Talk Responder provides LMR-like functionality while enabling officers to text and exchange data, and is also fully interoperable, so it extends communications to users outside of an agency’s LMR network—greatly enhancing the ability for first responders to communicate in crisis situations, regardless of device, network or platform.”