Direct Talk Compatible Phones
(The actual list is a bit further down the page, if you’d like to skip there.)
Please Note: None of this information should be considered authoritative. It was gathered while I researched the feasibility of picking up a few old Nextels to use as off-network walkie-talkies.
What Is Direct Talk?
Direct Talk is a term used to describe the ability of certain Nextel-style (Motorola iDEN) phones to do two-way radio style chat (“chirping” or “Direct Connect”) without the need for cell towers. Traditional Direct Connect will have each phone connected to a cell tower, which relays and routes all communications. Direct Talk bypasses the towers, and works between phones. The feature was presumably introduced for Nextel users who found themselves in dead zones often enough to also have to carry conventional walkie-talkies.
From a technical perspective, Direct Talk is a digital simplex 900 MHz (ISM Band) Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) format. Nextel lists the power output as being 0.7 Watts (700 mW). There appear to be ten channels, times fifteen codes. It is believed that the 15 codes do not influence the 10 FHSS sequences, but are equivalent to talkgroups. The “channels” do not appear to match up with those used by other products, such as Motorola’s DTR-series radios or the TriSquare handhelds.
As with all simplex handhelds, range figures vary tremendously; Nextel says “up to 7″ but advertises 2-3 miles as a more common range. (Although it’s rarely done on cell phones these days, remember that extending the antenna will help considerably.)
Private (one-on-one) and group calls are supported. Nextel states that there is a limit of 16-20 users on a group call in close distance.
The feature is also known as MOTO Talk. Boost and SouthernLINC typically disable the feature on their phones. The feature is independent of carriers (since it bypasses towers), but can be disabled in the handsets, as those providers have been known to do.
A SIM card is required for DirectTalk to operate, though you do not need active service with any provider. I have seen mixed reviews about attempting to use the service with “virgin” cards that have never been activated, or have been activated on non-iDEN networks: some have reported it works great, others have said it did not.
Direct Talk Compatible Phones
The following phones do support Direct Talk. (I have not personally verified this information.)
- Nextel ic402
- Nextel ic502
- Nextel ic602
- Nextel ic902
- Nextel i275
- Nextel i315
- Nextel i325 (and i325is)
- Nextel i335
- Nextel i355
- Nextel i365
- Nextel i425
- Nextel i455 (mixed reviews: some apparently have the feature disabled)
- Nextel i560
- Nextel i570
- Nextel i580
- Nextel i615
- Nextel i670
- Nextel i760
- Nextel i776
- Nextel i850
- Nextel i870
- Nextel i880
Phones without Direct Talk
Some phones do not support Direct Talk. I have put “(not supported)” aside them for the benefit of those who find this via search and don’t read in full. :)
- Nextel i265 (not supported)
- Nextel i305 (not supported)
- Boost i455 (mixed reviews: some do work)
- Nextel i530 (not supported)
- Nextel i710 (not supported)
- Nextel i730 (not supported)
- Nextel i860 (not supported)
- Nextel i920 (not supported)
- Nextel i930 (not supported)
- PRO-series (not supported)
- LX-series (not supported)
- Z-series (not supported)
- BB-series (not supported)
9 Responses to Direct Talk Compatible Phones
Motorola Phones - The RadioReference.com Forums
January 20th, 2012 at 1:28 am
[...] Have a look at this page: Direct Talk Compatible Phones | Matt's Blog [...]
Jason Thomas
June 26th, 2012 at 7:27 pm
I have two i335 and a i465 (aka Clutch). I have used Boost sims in the Nextel phones for DirectTalk mode. The trick is getting Nextel phones, and getting the SIM card that goes with the phone. Boost SIM vs. Nextel SIM has nothing to do with it.
Jim
July 14th, 2012 at 7:41 am
Cellunex has Direct Talk Phones and SIM cards for sale.
colin
January 25th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
just to update folks, the i615 does not have the direct talk feature, i bought a set of 10 and found out the hard way,lol, its not even there in the rss so it has not been disabled, its just not in the firmware for this phone.
alex dekker
April 7th, 2013 at 9:03 am
You can add the i365 to the list as well.
Kendall
April 16th, 2013 at 4:00 pm
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Matt
April 16th, 2013 at 4:04 pm
Kendall — feel free to quote it in part with attribution, but please do not reproduce whole articles.
Marin
April 20th, 2013 at 11:41 am
Did you eventually end up going with an iDEN phones using Direct Talk? I had some i560′s a few years ago and used them for that purpose and I was considering doing it again but I am looking into if there is a better solution these days. I really preferred the sound quality of these units over the regular FRS/GMRS radios.
Matt
April 21st, 2013 at 10:44 pm
I do use them periodically. I bought a few i760′s, for perhaps $10 apiece in a lot, on eBay a while back.
One of the things I like is that they’re cheap enough that I’m not too worried about damaging them. I took them with us kayaking one time, knowing that if one fell overboard, it wouldn’t be a big loss. The other thing I like is that, from what I’m told, you can dial 911 with any phone, regardless of whether it’s on contract, so if an emergency had come up, we could have used our “radios” to call 911 for help. (But fortunately, I’ve never had occasion to test this. And please don’t trust my third-hand information on the matter.)
One big downside I realized is that no brick-and-mortar stores seem to sell chargers for these things anymore. You can still find them online, but if you do what I did and go on vacation forgetting the charger, you’ll find that Best Buy, RadioShack, and the Sprint/Nextel store don’t have anything to fit.