WALKIE TALKIE VS CELLULAR PHONE [HEAD 2 HEAD]

I wonder, what are the differences between amateur radio or walkie talkie with our cellular phone. Walkie talkie has been around for more than few decades but still the usage is not went down as I saw for other existing technology came coming from same era. Let’s take a look.

Walkie Talkie vs Cellular Phone..

	Walkie – talkie (2 way radio)	Cellular Phone
Network Coverage	It is independent and not depends on broadcast tower as long as both devices within the range, it should be able to communicate freely. Now days it already covered entire Malaysia. Just keyed in the repeater frequency and you good to go.	Depending on network tower to broadcast the signal cell phone cannot make a call if it not hooked to network tower. Some rural area still doesn’t have the coverage.
Network availability on bad weather	Both did not have direct impact on the coverage. They still working event in storm. Not too sure if someone struck by lightning because making a call in this condition. I’m still wondering.
Communication capability	One to many – Message can be deliver faster and can connect limitless people. These devices are very efficient for those who need information go around faster like disaster control.	One to one. Now days some Telco’s offered conferencing calls where few people can join the same call. But it is very limit to the number of people and the rate is expensive.
Long hours conversation	Since many people using same channel, it seems like you are using same small bridge to cross where only 1 people can talk at the time. And the period limit to a few minutes. Some handy will allow up till 15 minutes of talking continuously before it automatically disconnect the transmission. Not very suitable for long hour	People always love to chat for long hours. Cellular phone provided this service effectively. But telcos now have implementation to automatically terminate the line after 2 hours of continuous call. This is a good feature so that customer is not over charges for accidentally making a call.
Durability	Normally the devices were made using hard aluminium, where it builds to withstand harsh condition. With less electronic part attached to it. It can easily assemble and dissemble.	Phone is a complex circuit. The electronic part cannot last longer. Normally it will give signal of problem after 3 years of using it. But people often change the phone after 2 years. So it solved the issue then. ^_^
Privacy	No privacy at all because the devices is using public frequency where everybody can listen to it.	Privacy is absolute. Nobody can listen to you conversion unless you are CIA,KGB,NSA etc.
Phonebook	It is not design to store contact list. And it is not user friendly at all; Too much setting you need to do before can store the contact. The contact info only have frequency information  and so little modification that can be done	It is hardcoded to phone design to have such a user friendly interface.  User able to store lots of information per person.
Commitment charges	This is by far is the strongest point where it way to cheap and cost effective. It only cost you around RM 5.00/Month a year of subscriptions - after divided the cost of a set of devices	Very high demanding based on Telco’s rate plan. Subscription can be vary between RM 30 – 150 depending on the usage.  Still have extra charges especially roaming and DDIs call. We see lots of dispute on this issue by subsribers.
Value for money	It depends on too many factors like needs, place, time, conditions, availability, desired and satisfaction. The recipe is very much different for one person to another. Both have good PROs and CONs which I tried to be fair on reviewing. At some point they can co-exist in one way or another. Hey..! Both are using same technology, RADIO WAVE…