I'm seeing more and more protesters using "Rapid (LTE) Radios".
Private and up to 200 users on the same group.
I always chuckle a little when I see their somewhat misleading pitch. Part of their pitch is that in effect, "these will work when the cell service goes down", and "no monthly fees." But these units do rely on the data channels of the LTE 4G network which is just as susceptible to outages as the cell voice channels, and even moreso in my experience. You need to be in the service area of an LTE (cell) tower. And while there is no monthly fee, there is a yearly fee, because the SIM card in the unit requires re-upping once a year for $50 which averagaes to $4.17 a month, which isn't awful, but it's not free. The units do communicate using AES encryption, so I imagine that would be desirable for some people. They're pricey and they don't look very rugged. But I've never held one in my hanad. [Shrug]
I've done a lot of work with LTE data, and it can take several seconds to connect, and drop outs are common. The data channels are more of a fit for telemetry, and streaming services where data is buffered over time if necessary (and it is necessary a lot of the time) and not for realtime voice. You roll the dice if you want to use LTE data for realtime voice. Maybe good enough for protesters and rioters, but I wouldn't use these units in EMCOM or of any life-and-death situations.
