2 way radio instead of cell phone?

Asked by Bradley from Surrey

The short answer to your question is ‘yes’. Quite an emphatic ‘yes’, in fact.

If you’re a bigger company, then it is likely that the service fees for cellular devices alone are costing you mucho dinero, to say nothing of the cost of the devices themselves.

In the course of researching this answer, I came across a case study on the official Motorola web site. The study concerned a Marriott hotel out in America (it was San Antonio, Texas, if you’re interested in looking it up) that switched to Motorola radios instead of cellular push-to-talk devices. According to the article, the company saved $14,000 a month in service fees alone.

Another benefit is a bit more intangible. Obviously, I don’t need to tell you that customer satisfaction leads to repeat custom. Using radios significantly improves response time to the requests of customers and thus, contributes to their overall satisfaction with your service.

The article says it all pretty well, actually.

“We were looking for new technology that would increase the efficiency of the hotel’s staff,” says McGuire (Steve McGuire is the director of engineering for the hotel in question). “We wanted the ability to call all employees with the push of a button, as well as the security of having our own system without having to rely on cell phones or paying monthly service fees. And we wanted radios that would integrate with the software and technology we are using.”

Radios have the benefit of offering instant communication, as well as being reliable, affordable and really easy to use. The fact that they are employed in so many areas, from transport, to shipping, to construction work to security (and much more besides), should tell you that they are probably the most cost-effective and reliable communications technology out there right now.

So, to offer a final answer to your question, you will definitely save money if you ditch the push-to-talk cell phones and replace them with two-way radios. In addition, you will almost certainly make your staff more available to customers and thus improve customer service all around. Push-to-talk cell devices aren’t terrible equipment, but they aren’t anything like as proven or reliable as two-way radios or digital two-ways.

I hope that helps, Bradley. Good luck with the future.