I remember the nextel days of the 1990s. In the contracting business you couldnt work anywhere without having a nextel. It was just that popular.....and worked great. Seems like rapid radio is the same thing.
No, a terrible replication of the Nextel service. Yes, Nextel was a subscription service, tower based system but it was light years better. This system works on the data system of the network, not the radio side. It is a radio but only to get your transmission to the data center, then it is sent via the internet. AT&T has a system like this and it is garbage.
If you are talking long range as in hundeds of miles the answer is no. Hand held radios are usually VHF or UHF radios and so they are lmited to line of sight. You can use antennas other than the stock antennas and that will help some. Check out the video on my channel where I use an antenna thrown over a tree limb at about 20 feet to get into a repeater almost 40 miles.
First I would say ham radio but if you're not interested in taking the test to get a ham radio license I would say GMRS. You have to get a liscense for GMRS but there is no test involved
They are very deceptive about the ongoing cost, 50.00 a year per radio. And if you wanted to talk to me, we have to contact the company to add us together. Also, If I happen to see your group name, I can have the company add it to my radio, without your approval.
You are right. You ARE BEING MISS LEAD. If you use a cell service, even half duplex, the service wants to know who you are because you are going to be billed for using their service. (IT IS NOT FREE) Maybe the 1st year is a no charge, but some how it is paid for. I have worked for AT&T and other service providers for over 30 years. Providers don’t provide their service free. Buyer beware!!!
you have to buy a sim card for these radios as well so that means if att goes down but not others then your without communications because of the simcard you bought and your gonna pay a monthly bill for the sim card for use in a radio that you will likely never have a need for im of the belief the citizens band would be best for an emergency because its easy to use no training involved and important information can be spread by relay of course someone will say oh but anyone can listen in to your conversation on the cb and that is true but you dont tell sensitive info on the airways if you have to do it code or or even do it by channel surfing theres ways to pass sensitive info without just outright saying it
I appreciate all being said in this comment section, but if all of you think for 1 sec they don't already have a plan to shut down your ham radio communications, you are living in denial. stay safe.
They work great, go fig . My Iphone went down I could not call out, but rapid radio could. Rapid works great on my boat in the swamp where my iphone will not go fig. Ham will not save any one when grid gos down. CB is good/ SATCOM king...
These radios use all cell towers,which is much better than cell phones which don't, they are not perfect for every scenario,but neither is ham radio or anything else,enjoy them for what they are.
All of you guys just don’t get it. It sounds like most of you are just completely biased against anything other than a Ham radio. First of all this RUclipsr is lying to you. These are not line of sight. These connect to cell towers just like your phone does. Does your phone only get one to 2 miles of coverage, no ! These have the same coverage that your cell phone would and certainly not one to 2 miles so quit lying to people. And that’s why these are so great. I have a team of 100 people and we need to communicate instantly over an encrypted network where we can’t be spied upon and where we can be in our house or down the road or anywhere in the city. These do exactly that. And y’all are worried about the grid going down and all the electricity is gonna stop. I think that’s a little bit overblown. There might be short periods of time where it’s down but it’s mostly gonna be reliable. HAM Radios are only useful when the grid goes down And even then they are not private and you have to have an antenna in your backyard to hit all the repeaters within say 60 miles. Do you use your Ham radio for every day communication needs? Of course not. These rapid radios are far more powerful and functional in terms of pragmatic communications than a Ham radio. For example within your private network you can communicate to the entire group or just to a single person and you can even create subgroups within your network. So my group of 100 men this is what we are using and they work perfectly great! We don’t have any problems with Dropped coverage or limited coverage or line of sight types of limitations. It really pisses me off when like through your teeth and pretend like you know everything
First thing I don't appreciate you calling me a liar. Apparently you don't pay attention very well. What I said was that if the cell tower is down these radios will not talk line of siight to each other. Or if they do it would only be for a couple miles WITHOUT the cell tower. Also you're wrong these rapid radios are not more powerful than ham radio. I have VHF and UHF radios that put out up to 50 watts I sure rapid radios don't transmitt with that much power. Plus I have HF radios that put out 100 watts that I can talk as far away as the other side of the earth without any infrastructure such as cell towers or the internet. If I wanted to I could buy an amp and run as much as 1,500 watts. So to say that rapid radios are more powerful than ham radio is a joke.
@@keithshamradioworld2793 it’s clear you’re just trying to badmouth and unduly criticize these devices. Just look at the title of your video. You’re presenting a lot of distorted information. And it seems your only argument is that if the grid goes down these are useless. When’s the last time we had widespread grid outages affecting multiple states?? Then these devices work perfectly and are far more convenient and reliable than Ham radios. If there’s an emergency and I need to call up a large group of 100 people at a moments notice these are invaluable. Now compare that to a Ham radio. In our town we have our own private repeater on a rooftop but not on a mountain. You would need all 100 of those people to be trained on the use of a Ham radio. Because they couldn’t afford an expensive base unit they would need to have an HT and they would need to sleep outside every night with a radio on and they would need to be several miles from the repeater in order to have a decent signal line of sight. But now the problem becomes what if they need to drive to the next city to go to the grocery store. Now I can no longer reach them. The problem with radios is that their line of sight and that they have limitations because of that. Everyone in your group would have to have a mobile unit in their car as well as the radio on their hip. But they walk outside of their car now we can no longer reach them. Now do you get it? Ham radios are not practical for having an alert system no matter where anyone is and no matter what time it is. And that’s not even talking about all the custom functionality that you can get with say rapid radio where you can communicate with one person or a group or a sub group within your private encrypted network. Just a regular cheap ham radio you don’t get any of this functionality and it’s not private and encrypted. Wake up bozo. Quit badmouthing technology that fits a need perfectly where ham radios fail. You basing your whole argument on the grid going down. Lots of fear mongering amongst ham radio groups that the grid is going to go down. Overblown fear
@@zydeho you’re the one that needs to go back and watch the video. I said they probably don’t connect together without the cell tower and IF they did it would be limited to line of sight.
there is $50 yearly charge for the SIM card per radio.
I remember the nextel days of the 1990s. In the contracting business you couldnt work anywhere without having a nextel. It was just that popular.....and worked great. Seems like rapid radio is the same thing.
I suspect the patents have lapsed, and they swiped the tech.
So basically a Nextel phone
Those made work really fun back in the day
No, a terrible replication of the Nextel service. Yes, Nextel was a subscription service, tower based system but it was light years better. This system works on the data system of the network, not the radio side. It is a radio but only to get your transmission to the data center, then it is sent via the internet. AT&T has a system like this and it is garbage.
Sounds like a waste of money to me! They will capture plenty of suckers.
By a true walkie talkie... power goes down... cell towers go down.... you are down
Rapid Radio is parsing words. There is no monthly charge. There is an annual charge of $50 per radio. Quite misleading.
I don’t see a use case for these. Is the cellular system they use more robust in the event of a grid down situation?
Supposedly it has SIMs for multiple carriers, so if one goes down, you might still have service on another. Good luck with that.
Any suggestions on 2 way radio that will be clear for 10 miles with obstructions?
Thanks for this Keith, do you have any recommendations for a dependable long range walkie talkie set in the event that the grid goes down?
If you are talking long range as in hundeds of miles the answer is no. Hand held radios are usually VHF or UHF radios and so they are lmited to line of sight. You can use antennas other than the stock antennas and that will help some. Check out the video on my channel where I use an antenna thrown over a tree limb at about 20 feet to get into a repeater almost 40 miles.
@@keithshamradioworld2793 awesome, I’ll check it out thanks!
Definantly a scam. They even turned their comments off. When the grid goes down those radios are paper weights
Yes. I saw right away that comments were turned off. Definitely a warning flag!
That is also true of VHF/UHF amateur radio. When the repeater system goes down, the radios have a very short simplex range.
Thx Keith! Anything you recom'd to communicate if grid goes down?
First I would say ham radio but if you're not interested in taking the test to get a ham radio license I would say GMRS. You have to get a liscense for GMRS but there is no test involved
Great video. Thanks AD4VR
They are very deceptive about the ongoing cost, 50.00 a year per radio. And if you wanted to talk to me, we have to contact the company to add us together. Also, If I happen to see your group name, I can have the company add it to my radio, without your approval.
Keith, does Rapid Radio receive NOAA, or other emergency channels? Thank You
I can't find any memtion of it doing that
Thank you, Keith!
Thanks for this- definitely not what I need for when we have no power and the cell towers are also down.
Thank U for the heads-up👍
Great job! Someone needed to make this video. It’s a misleading scam in my opinion. 73 de K4OGO
These radios use all cell towers so if all go down were in big trouble
You are right. You ARE BEING MISS LEAD. If you use a cell service, even half duplex, the service wants to know who you are because you are going to be billed for using their service. (IT IS NOT FREE) Maybe the 1st year is a no charge, but some how it is paid for. I have worked for AT&T and other service providers for over 30 years. Providers don’t provide their service free. Buyer beware!!!
I use them for my business and they work flawless. Clear as DMR
Is there a delay? Are the speakers good? Loud?
Thank you for the heads up, there advertisements are really misleading
So if there's no cellular service there's no radio service correct that's useless for hunters out in the wilderness
Did not work during Hurricane Milton.
No cell network.
They work off of all cell towers so if you lose att but Verizon has cell coverage then it may be worth the purchase.
VERY CORRUPT Company no monthly fee!!!! But $50 per year annual fee--will be a huge consumer protection lawsuit comming up for false advertising!!
I use to use nextel and they were not that reliable then and they are not reliable now cause they are just like a nextel.
The Zello radios are cool though.
Not a scam, an overpriced product for uninitiated, this is life..😂
you have to buy a sim card for these radios as well so that means if att goes down but not others then your without communications because of the simcard you bought and your gonna pay a monthly bill for the sim card for use in a radio that you will likely never have a need for im of the belief the citizens band would be best for an emergency because its easy to use no training involved and important information can be spread by relay of course someone will say oh but anyone can listen in to your conversation on the cb and that is true
but you dont tell sensitive info on the airways if you have to do it code or or even do it by channel surfing theres ways to pass sensitive info without just outright saying it
Sounds like a promotion to go to 2 meter radio still need repeaters much like cell towers to communicate long distance
Was there a Discount Code?
$50 a year after initial year of service per radio
I appreciate all being said in this comment section, but if all of you think for 1 sec they don't already have a plan to shut down your ham radio communications, you are living in denial. stay safe.
When at&t went down, they still worked .
THX...
Love mine they work great
Thank You
I got them and they work good like Nextel got other radios and yes you do pay 100.00 bucks a year for 2 radios
They work great, go fig . My Iphone went down I could not call out, but rapid radio could. Rapid works great on my boat in the swamp where my iphone will not go fig. Ham will not save any one when grid gos down. CB is good/ SATCOM king...
Yes, just like Ham useless if the grid goes down. No repeaters 🤗
Shockingly, HAM radio does not depend on repeaters.
But does this guy actually own a Rapid Radio?
These radios use all cell towers,which is much better than cell phones which don't, they are not perfect for every scenario,but neither is ham radio or anything else,enjoy them for what they are.
All of you guys just don’t get it. It sounds like most of you are just completely biased against anything other than a Ham radio.
First of all this RUclipsr is lying to you. These are not line of sight. These connect to cell towers just like your phone does. Does your phone only get one to 2 miles of coverage, no ! These have the same coverage that your cell phone would and certainly not one to 2 miles so quit lying to people. And that’s why these are so great. I have a team of 100 people and we need to communicate instantly over an encrypted network where we can’t be spied upon and where we can be in our house or down the road or anywhere in the city. These do exactly that. And y’all are worried about the grid going down and all the electricity is gonna stop. I think that’s a little bit overblown. There might be short periods of time where it’s down but it’s mostly gonna be reliable. HAM Radios are only useful when the grid goes down And even then they are not private and you have to have an antenna in your backyard to hit all the repeaters within say 60 miles. Do you use your Ham radio for every day communication needs? Of course not. These rapid radios are far more powerful and functional in terms of pragmatic communications than a Ham radio. For example within your private network you can communicate to the entire group or just to a single person and you can even create subgroups within your network. So my group of 100 men this is what we are using and they work perfectly great! We don’t have any problems with Dropped coverage or limited coverage or line of sight types of limitations. It really pisses me off when like through your teeth and pretend like you know everything
First thing I don't appreciate you calling me a liar. Apparently you don't pay attention very well. What I said was that if the cell tower is down these radios will not talk line of siight to each other. Or if they do it would only be for a couple miles WITHOUT the cell tower. Also you're wrong these rapid radios are not more powerful than ham radio. I have VHF and UHF radios that put out up to 50 watts I sure rapid radios don't transmitt with that much power. Plus I have HF radios that put out 100 watts that I can talk as far away as the other side of the earth without any infrastructure such as cell towers or the internet. If I wanted to I could buy an amp and run as much as 1,500 watts. So to say that rapid radios are more powerful than ham radio is a joke.
@@keithshamradioworld2793 it’s clear you’re just trying to badmouth and unduly criticize these devices. Just look at the title of your video. You’re presenting a lot of distorted information. And it seems your only argument is that if the grid goes down these are useless. When’s the last time we had widespread grid outages affecting multiple states?? Then these devices work perfectly and are far more convenient and reliable than Ham radios. If there’s an emergency and I need to call up a large group of 100 people at a moments notice these are invaluable. Now compare that to a Ham radio. In our town we have our own private repeater on a rooftop but not on a mountain. You would need all 100 of those people to be trained on the use of a Ham radio. Because they couldn’t afford an expensive base unit they would need to have an HT and they would need to sleep outside every night with a radio on and they would need to be several miles from the repeater in order to have a decent signal line of sight. But now the problem becomes what if they need to drive to the next city to go to the grocery store. Now I can no longer reach them. The problem with radios is that their line of sight and that they have limitations because of that. Everyone in your group would have to have a mobile unit in their car as well as the radio on their hip. But they walk outside of their car now we can no longer reach them. Now do you get it? Ham radios are not practical for having an alert system no matter where anyone is and no matter what time it is. And that’s not even talking about all the custom functionality that you can get with say rapid radio where you can communicate with one person or a group or a sub group within your private encrypted network. Just a regular cheap ham radio you don’t get any of this functionality and it’s not private and encrypted. Wake up bozo. Quit badmouthing technology that fits a need perfectly where ham radios fail. You basing your whole argument on the grid going down. Lots of fear mongering amongst ham radio groups that the grid is going to go down. Overblown fear
@@zydeho you’re the one that needs to go back and watch the video. I said they probably don’t connect together without the cell tower and IF they did it would be limited to line of sight.