BT SmartTalk - only the called party can interrupt...

Question

I'd appreciate any comments on the following problem I'm having with the BT SmartTalk app on a Samsung S2 phone. The problem is that when I call someone, they can interrupt me but I can't interrupt them. This makes for a very stilted and one-sided conversation.
I'd like to know if this is peculiar to my particular phone, or whether SmartTalk is always like this. 
I still have BT Broadband Talk on my BT Broadband account and I can run this from the same phone using SipDroid. What I find is that the calls using this are far superior and it works just like a normal phone call. 
SmartTalk is a great idea and I was hoping that it would be a substitute for Broadband Talk when BT eventually withdraw it but like this it's just not comfortable to use. 

Answer 1

imjolly wrote:
had the problem today - couldn't interrupt the receiving party as long as they were talking
Thanks for the info. I contacted the moderators about the issue last week and had a response today saying "I have contacted the Smart Talk product team and asked them to have a look into this. As soon as I hear something back I'll call or email and let you know." 
I've replied as follows:
"Many thanks for responding. I hope you can get the issue resolved because BT SmartTalk is a potentially excellent system but with a fatal flaw. <snip>
To demonstrate the main problem:
1. Call a landline from a Samsung S2 mobile phone using the BT SmartTalk app.
2. Tell the called party to start counting steadily and continuously from one to ten.
3. While he's counting, try to interrupt.
4. The result: you get no response until he stops after 'ten'.
5. Repeat the test the other way round - you count and he interrupts. This time he stops you immediately he speaks.
I've made many tests like this to numbers in the UK while I've been in the UK and the USA using my Samsung S2. With BT SmartTalk, every call has suffered from the one-way effect. In contrast, BT Broadband Talk (via the SIPDroid app), Skype, and Viber all give proper symmetrical duplex (using the same phone and same called number).
I find that call quality is mostly excellent with BT Broadband Talk, good with Skype, and poor with Viber. Call clarity with BT SmartTalk is as good as BT Broadband Talk, but the lack of proper duplex makes it unpleasant to use."