Ufone Walkie Talkie: A New Revolutionary Service in Pakistan

Kudos to Ufone, for providing the first time in Pakistan, real time direct one-to-one and one-to-many voice communication service called Ufone Walkie Talkie.

MAIN FEATURES: Main features of this revolutionary service are:

Calling: Subscriber can talk either to any single contact from his contacts list or can talk simultaneously to all members in a group.

• Public or Private Groups: In Public groups, if you add your friend in a group then the invited friend can also add members in the same group without your permission. On the other hand, in Private groups, if you add a friend in a group then the invited friend cannot add anyone to the same group. Only you can add members to that group.
  
• Call Back Request: Using Push to talk feature, you can send call back requests to other person if he hasn’t answered your call. The message will be delivered to Push to Talk (PTT) inbox of the receiver.
  
• Fast Conversation: All the participants in a call don’t need to answer the phone. The phone voice will be played through phone loud speaker automatically. Be careful not to disturb anyone in a ‘Silence Zone’.

HOW IT WORKS: For those of you who are techie, let me explain how Ufone Walkie Talkie works:

Using this service, you can establish a telephonic conference either with a single person or a number of individuals.

Pushing the dedicated key available in Nokia handsets sets up a voice channel to all selected participants automatically. The receiver(s) phone will automatically play the voice through phone’s loud speakers. Once you have completed your message, release the button. Then the second person will push his handset button and send voice over the dedicated voice channel. In this way, communication will carry on. You all will be familiar with this type of communication as all of you must have seen such scenes in Army programs. Also, you might have played with Walkie Talkies in childhood.

To use this service, you must have subscribed to this service and have configured your Push to Talk (PTT) settings correctly.

TARIFF PLAN: Now let us talk about Tariff Plan of available Walkie Talkie Packages:

Package1: Subscription Charges - 50; Free Min./Month - 150; Rs/Min - 0.33

Package2: Subscription Charges - 100; Free Min./Month - 325; Rs/Min - 0.31

Package3: Subscription Charges - 300; Free Min./Month - 1100; Rs/Min - 0.27

Package4: Subscription Charges - 699; Free Min./Month - 3000; Rs/Min - 0.23

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE & CONFIGURE YOUR HANDSET: Before subscription make sure your handset is compatible with the service. Image below shows the list of Nokia Handsets which are compatible with this service:

For handsets of other manufacturer, contact helpline (333).

SMS “Sub” to 788 for subscription. You will get SMS with different package options (1-4) which were discussed above. Reply with 1-4 depending which options suits your need best.

SMS “Set” to 788 for PTT Settings, SMS “help” to 788 for help menu and SMS “Ptt” to 788 for information on remaining minutes.

SOME USEFUL TIPS FOR WALKIE TALKIE USERS:

• A single user can create a maximum of 20 groups with each group having a maximum of 20 members.
• You can subscribe to more than one package at the same time.
• Ufone will inform you one day before the expiry of your package via SMS.
• The user will be charged for both incoming/outgoing minutes.
• It’s a handset dependent feature. So, you must have Push to talk software available with your handset.
• The service is available to all prepaid and postpaid customers.