Rapid radios
Posted by LopsidedAd5406@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 28 comments
I'm curious if any one knows someone using these. Especially in the areas with no phone service right now. Like in North Carolina especially.
SinnersOpinion@reddit
They are not my links or my business they are 2 different sellers on AliExpress to get them cheaper, calm down
selldivide@reddit
If you're in an area with no phone service, the Rapid Radio will also have no service.
There are too many misleading things in their marketing for me to consider their product anything other than a scam.
SinnersOpinion@reddit
They are damaging a lot of other people who sell the same radios, I know because I do(not online yet only locally in Canada but still works globally) lol here is the spec sheet they don't share on rapid radiod and I can answer questions they don't. No these radios do not work if cells go down. They are only 4G/LTE. There are similar radios but that have two antennas so they work on cell and VHF/UHF
SamanthaSissyWife@reddit
What are the specs on the radios in your picture and are they available in the US? Are the a combination cell phone radios like the old Nextel and VHF/UHF?
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
preppers-ModTeam@reddit
You can provide genetic information about products, however, you cannot conduct business on r/preppers . Please remove the links.
Icy-Entrance-8242@reddit
They use any and all cellular networks available if one is down it automatically switches to the next one. Every bit of cellular infrastructure nationwide would need to be compromised for rapid radios to be inoperable
LopsidedAd5406@reddit (OP)
Yep.
browsguy@reddit
If it works the way it claims it could have some value, in some situations. IE maybe you are not ready to get your kid a cell phone.
It is not for a SHTF moment as it uses the cell towers.
Also in the ad it says no monthly fees. What it means is first year of service included in the price, $50 per year after the first year.
SamanthaSissyWife@reddit
Still $50 a year is cheaper than a monthly phone bill but like others have said if the cell towers go down these will as well. Because they work off all carriers, if one had an outage I am guessing you would still have coverage on the other carriers though, but in a Hurricane Helene situation, when the cell tower generators ran out of fuel about 8-12 hours after the power grid went down, these would be useless.
Brave-Restaurant-551@reddit
Per radio, not just the set, but $50 per radio.
SevereAssociate8216@reddit
Are rapid radios secure
FunnyKozaru@reddit
I just googled rapid radio. They are two-way “radios” that use the cell phone network.
So if the cell phone network is down, how are they going to work?
TheSensiblePrepper@reddit
That's the neat part, they don't.
Emma_watsonlol@reddit
Cell phone companies pointing at Rapid Radios
Look at what they need to mimic a fraction of our power!
SinnersOpinion@reddit
Hi, I sell the same radios, well did now I sell the newer models. The ones they sell run on 4G and are rebranded Chinese radios. If all cell tower go down, they will stop working. The radios are good and have great coverage in most areas but I just wouldn't recommend buying from rapid radio as they charge more then they are worth by a lot and the yearly fee they charge again is not worth the price. See below for the actual spec sheet they don't share on their site.
Nearby_Guarantee_148@reddit
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No-Imagination-6981@reddit
they require "some" amount of cell network service to work, but not all of it, so they claim it's better.
I doubt that.
Slartibartfastthe2nd@reddit
By "some" service, they specifically operate on the LTE network. They also skirt the truth claiming no monthly subscription fees, ever.
They just forget to mention the annual service fee of $50/handset. TBH the concept is not bad, it's just that the practicality of the product is wildly different from how they market it.
It's not a wild exaggeration to think people may perish in the aftermath of Helena because (in part) they pinned their communication lifeline on these 'radios'.
wanderingpeddlar@reddit
I love the FAQ
No we don't charge a monthly fee or require a contract ever.
We do charge a yearly fee.....
That and making a big deal out of using 256 bit encryption....nothing to say about how they are implementing it
tempest1523@reddit
Also there is a monthly subscription I believe, it comes with the purchase for the first year but after that you are paying for that cell service since it goes over those towers. I don’t trust them because they are not transparent on the topic. The wording makes you believe it’s free and will just always work. It won’t unless you pay.
Apart-Mistake-5849@reddit
The subscription was annual and is small but it's still there. They will add a secondary contact after your phone with partial cell network failure as they can jump carriers. The biggest issue is they have to be programmed to communicate with specific other rapid radios. So if your family members don't have their own your shit out of luck. Large upfront cost of about $400 for a pair of radios..
shikkonin@reddit
Nobody is using them in those areas, because they dont work there.
SuperAngryGuy@reddit
It's the same company selling an "emergency radio" for $80 that really costs $30...and it's just a cheap ham radio that you need a license to use.
tangobravoyankee@reddit
In the mountainous parts of western NC (ie: not Asheville itself) they've been hostile to new tower site construction for ~15 years and there's hardly anywhere with LoS to two sites. All the carriers are co-located at the same sites, along with the WISPs and many of the Ham repeaters, so when a natural disaster knocks one carrier offline it likely knocks everyone offline.
Having a multi-carrier SIM in your phone or specialized device like a Rapid Radio can be advantageous in some circumstances but it's probably not doing anyone any good in western NC right now. If they were, it wouldn't have taken so long to get word out of what happened in so many of these communities.
(I have a home in 28901, miraculously unaffected but there have been widespread power and ISP outages)
EffinBob@reddit
One of the biggest, most advertised, and obvious scams ever. Your cell phone is a better option and just as reliable as far as network outages.
bikumz@reddit
I think a lot of people are missing the point, just because your cell provider is down doesn’t mean rapid radio’s is down. Take the AT&T outage a few months back for instance. Still a stupid radio but something else to have in a bag. But for a monthly subscription I would much rather buy a pre paid phone on a different carrier and have the same thing for much less.
LopsidedAd5406@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I think it's still better off with the garmin stuff.