I was unswear as well that they were $50 each a year to renew. I can confirm that they do work great and I took them to a dead spot for my cell phone where my ATT struggles and they worked perfectly. So they must be using multiple carriers like they state. They use 4G and LTE. If you have a small business, hobby and need to talk to a group of people at one time and switch to a single person in the group they are perfect.. but yes the justification needs to be there for $50 each a year. Perfect for my needs of digging for history in the woods 👍

I believe they don’t use cell towers so when cell towers go out and phones don’t work these will

@@riceballs4380 these use 4G and LTE same as a cell phone.

I use my Motorola dongle. This talks to satellites and works to message anywhere whether I have cell service or not. Ben using it for a year and it works flawless. I'm in Mexico and my wife is in Florida

Sounds scammy. If cell service is down, how will they work? Bogus.

Definitely remind me of the old Nextels 👍

@@IffySignals I was thinking that also when I saw your post. I will be 50 this year and that was a great device.

Thanks! You too!

Thanks Bud!

Definitely cannot rely on these without cell service. Unless i am missing something. These definitely act along side/rely on cell service.

Welcome 👍

Good luck 👍

Good luck Deb 👍

Any luck with these? I'm looking for analog radios that do not need cell.towers

Have you tested your new radio yet

Thx Fred!

Thx Mike

Welcome Jimmy!

Yea Danny, i guess for our hobby if you go detecting frequently and have a regular group or digging buddy then it would be good. I can definitely see many other uses like small business ect..

Me too CZ, i had the Nextels.

Nextel was bought by Sprint, but those networks have been shut down for years. And, Sprint was bought out by T-Mobile, so that network is also shut down, and in the process of being rebuilt as TMO sites. If there is already a TMO site at that location, the old Sprint site will convert to Dish.

Loved the Nextel!!

They were great until you forgot to mute it. And you're sitting in a restaurant and a buddy Qs you up saying "hey dumb fuck what are you doing"

They are back in a way. Motorola (Who actually made the old Nextel radios) has the TLK system. They work off Verizon network and work pretty well. Cost is about $30/month per unit.

Thanks!

Good luck 👍

Yea pretty cool!

Not cool, should mention it it right up front. I was hoping for the best because they are great walkies and can benefit many people/businesses but the whole idea of them being free and deleting people comments from there ads if they mention the charge is not cool.

These will not work without cell phone service. Yes $50 each per year to renew. Would be cool if it was $50 for the pair considering you need at least two of them.

We just had a national cell service disruption, so how can these be of any help? Pass

@@CrochetNewsNetwork mine stayed active the whole time. Our cells were down but the Rapids stayed up on 4G all day. No idea how but they did. Kept chatting from RI to NH without any issues.

@@IffySignalsDoes it cost anything? It says no fee.

​@@IffySignalsyour ATT cell went down but the radio didnt? Well, my not ATT phone didnt go down. That's probably why the radio still worked because it doesn't run off exclusively ATT towers, pretty simple. That doesn't provide legitimacy to these at all.

Thanks Bill 👍

I understand the frustration.

Im not sure, they did tell me any sim card, i was assuming an active one.

From ebay, i had to modify it to fit but its for an XP Deus 2 metal detector.

No, these will not work if the towers go down.

If you want long distance without repeaters, you will need 10 meter, 20 meter, or higher band ham radio. Those are mostly vehicle mount or home base type radios, not handheld. Handheld 2 meter has 4-8 mile range without repeaters.

@@gumbootdave1 Thank you! I appreciate that info!

Some repeaters will run with backup generators so if the grid goes down they could still operate

@@josephschmeggins6311 Yeah, hopefully their generators still work. I don’t think anybody really knows what will be effected by an emp

My mini cobra’s are pretty bad too. In the open they are ok. In the woods they drop single fast.

In a real emergency your cobra radios will be more useful than these bricks.

If there is cell service they will work.

Good luck 👍

The $50 yearly renewal is definitely something that should be mentioned more than just part of fine print on the website.

the $50 annual was pretty straight forward to me. I guess some people don't understand an annual registration fee, v. a monthly subscription. But oh well. I love mine.

@@MSgtPierce its not an “annual registration”. they are charging you for a new sim card. pay by use sim cards dont cost $50, they are ripping you off.. plus.. theyre playing word semantics… “no monthly fees ever!”…. okay.. a $50 yearly fee.. whoch translates to a little under $4/mo. It’s still a fee… monthly or annually. it’s deceptive marketing. and like i said.. feel free to look up “global-ptt poc radio G1”… they cost $60-80 bucks from china and theyre charging you a fortune for it. Plus, you’re locked into a “mother may i” situation with them. they force you to buy more radios from them.. THEY have to add the new radios to your account.. if you want something as simple as the name of the radio (“contact name”) changed it has to go through them, adding members to your group has to go through them. Thats BS. If you buy the radios direct instead of this 3rd party rebranding scam, you get access to control your account alllll by yourself whenever and however you want. add new radios anytime you want.. add people to your group yourself, anytime you want. No thanks! These guys are nothing but importers of chinese radios, rebranding them as something of their own, and then locking you into paying them $50 a piece for the rest of your life and giving up all control to them. LOL. Suckers.

​@@MSgtPierceWhy are you defending their deception?

Hey Rocky, these will not work if the towers go down.

You need something like GMRS, MURS, or ideally, a HAM license for emergency radio use. If there are GMRS repeaters in your area, you can often use them to communicate a long ways on GMRS. HAM radios can literally (on HF frequencies) talk across the world under the right conditions, and with the right knowledge and equipment.

@@FRMN8R_T4R thx for the info 👍

Yes, they definitely need cell signal to work.

Yes, nationwide. Anywhere there is cellphone signal.

Yes, but from what i read, i think you have to let them know ahead of time so they can set it up that way. Thx

@@IffySignals paid 100.00 per radio. got new sim cards. now nothing works?

Will work if the shtf just not if the shit hits the cell towers 😆. I think they will work outside of the US if you let the company know what country ahead of time. I heard them mention that.

Welcome!

They use cell service. Subject to the same limitations as a cell phone.

@@10bbremer correct. The great thing is that they work with all major carriers and are not just on one. Some providers have bad signal in some areas and others are better. Rapid Radios has verified that there LTE and 4G is onboard with all major carriers. How it picks and chooses by signal i have no idea.

Not sure, i only messed with them in the usa

Thx for the info, i’ve never heard of them.

Definitely 👍

Great walkies, just require cell service. Depends on your need.

@@IffySignals I use a Baofeng, fits my needs

@@MobileRecordingsRo I saw those on Amazon. Might pickup a couple.

Correct.

it would have to be an area with 0 cell service of any kind forthen to not work , these have sim cards that operate on ALL the main cellular service carriers. The FCC has a map that shows All companies coverage, 4g ,5g, and LTE . not many places with 0 coverage, now if the chi-coms knock out the Entire cell network, or the power grid, then nope they dontwork, however, if that happens Im probably going to be trying to survive, and not doing normal chatting or business on a radio. Just my opinion of course.

@@jeffrooke8439 exactly. Weird thing is i have been inside a few stores and have perfect cell signal on my phone (ATT) but nothing on the radios, and they will not work. As soon as i leave the store the signal comes back.

I live in a very rural area, and it's not uncommon to experience zero coverage. For those who live in a more urban setting, it's a cool product, otherwise it's a no go for me.

@@HoosierGuy Are there Any cellular companies that have a signal in your area?

Welcome, they do work good and feel strong like the old nextels. No complaints with the quality.

Yeah, looks like a good product for the most part, nice build quality, just need to know what you're getting into. Was thinking about using them for off-roading, but I'll stick to FRS. @@IffySignals

@@BarnStangz you should really check out the gmrs radios. You can buy a license to use gmrs repeaters in your area and the license is fairly cheap and it expires in 10 years and no test to take either.

These work off cell phone signal.

Being an Amateur Radio operator for 62 years, I know CB, beyond local range, is plagued with skip signals much of the year, random in nature, being in the High Frequency bands. 😊

Company states they are completely untraceable. They will not work if cell phone towers go down.

I would give them a call, pretty sure they can but you have to let them know ahead of time.

No

Yes, just like it but without the ability to use as a phone.

They need cell phone signal.

Depends on what towers were taken out. An emp in one place doesn't take everything down nation wide..

Definitely need the cell towers. I used to have a couple of the three channel radio shack hand held cbs. Long whip antennas. Those were cool.

Lol! No monthly, no service, but yearly you need to pay $50 each. Ill pay it for how much ill be using them, they definitely should be more up front about this $50.

No idea, never used Zello. They are just walkies that work off cell signal.

Not if the cell towers go down.

@@IffySignalsappreciate you bud 👍🏼

Its a walkie talkie, you can talk with a group of people at one time or one at a time. Its a connivance. When it comes to service though, yes you need cell phone signal.

Yes

Correct 👍

👍

Yes

I can see allot of small businesses liking these. We have been using them allot just for the PTT. Easier for us than a cell.

Correct 👍

Nice 👍

Sure do

Going to try it out. Thx

Yes! Cross country. They said they are paired up with all cell phone carriers. I had no idea they existed either. You add a bunch of radios and talk to a single person or the whole group at once. They have a car kit too. 👍

Or you could just call them on your cell.

Long distance walkie talkies. Thats all.

Never heard of Zello until you mentioned it. Pretty cool. 👍

Exactly. and with Zello you can get a gateway to link your actual radios to the data network for cross compatibility. These "radios" are no more than the radioditty LTE models you can get online.

@@rollingcode3 zello can link to these as well?

​@rollingcode3 from my understanding, these Rapid radios bounce off the nearest tower. I think normal cell phones only use their towers. I could be wrong

@chrisholliday1330 you might be right!

👍

Yes to both, yearly $50 fee and if towers go down they are down.

I just put up a new video. Where my cell was in a dead spot and these were still in 4G. They work off multiple carriers 👍

Agree, these are just walkie talkies using cell service for nationwide coverage.

I have ATT and these still worked, i have noticed lately that it loses signal inside of stores in my area where i do have full cell signal. Thats kinda odd.

I am not affiliated with them, i was looking for walkies that would give me greater range while we are out in the woods. Definitely different than others who have concerns about needing a radio when the towers go down. I was not looking for anything like that. I definitely understand the $50 a year concerns.

I got great customers support from them

I was surprised yesterday during the outage. Our cell phones were down all day but the rapids kept 4g. The outage may have only been ATT. The Rapids never went down.

No go without towers.

True 👍

Not when the cell towers are down.

Well you cant make calls, its a walkie talkie on cell signal 👍

Correct 👍

You can 👍

These can be very useful though for groups, work, or in a case where you are digging in dirt like i am with a group of people and want to communicate with them all at one time and not want to potentially damage an expensive phone.

no gps chip--no tracking--encrypted

Not for everyone for sure.

Only has push to talk though 👍

I saved 15% on my insurance by switching to Geico. With the extra money I can now afford these as well.

They work good in most areas.. but correct they cost $50 each per year. For some reason i do hit dead spots in buildings where i have full cell signal.

You try the website, you are able to message them directly.

@@IffySignals No response

No way to message them directly. Strictly email only with no response.

Go to FB messenger and type in Rapid Radios.

I did not have the impression these were radios. Just walkie talkies that work off cell service.

Yes, will not work without signals like a cell phone.

These require a sim card. They are activated for one year already.

Thats up to you. Having a walkie works better than pulling my phone out.

Cell towers

I spoke to them directly on the phone. They are based in the USA. Design and customer service is definitely in the USA. The radios seem to be made in China which they are not hiding because in the box was a tiny piece of paper from China. I asked them “what would happen if you went out of business?” and they replied that the radios will work with any Sim card and they had no concerns with there business. “Not Happening” was there exact reply to that. They were shipped from MI USA and shipping was here within two days.

Thx for the info.

These are just walkie talkies that work on cell service. They need cell service to connect. 👍

Definitely seems to be the consensus.

Definitely need signal.