I think you're both right and wrong, and I think there is a...

I think you're both right and wrong, and I think there is a potentially large market that doesn't fit analogue radio. Issues:

1. Distance. Using CB radio (public band) - unless you have repeaters, you're limited to about 5km range at the maximum power allowed for. And you can't just throw up a CB repeater like you can an AP. Those need government approval.
2. Cost. Unless you operate within that 5km range, repeaters cost a lot of money. So too does buying radio spectrum if you want to transmit with a lot more power. There's a massive amount of red tape to deal with.
3. You can't make private calls on CB unless you tell the other party to move to a channel that nobody is listening to.
4. You can't send pictures, make video calls, private teleconference, etc from CB radios.


Think about it from the frame of a farmer with their agrucultrual offering. Would you spend many hundreds of thousands of dollars on licensing, consultants, and again infrastructure because you can't reach half your farm, or would you just give your guys a sat phone? They don't care if they don't have flawless coverage, and surely don't need encryption or intrinsically safe systems. Being able to send a picture back of the crop through their phone probably has far more value.

I also dispite the cost of outdoor rated AP's and the reliability. I have used outdoor directional ubiquity gear for low hundreds. It's so low cost that if it goes wrong, then just replace it. Plug and play gear.

https://goo.gl/HF7NOF

I don't know the design, but I imagine they have powerful unidirectional AP's installed in the vehicles which in turn give phones coverage both in and out of the cars. If it were me, I would probably build a cheap skid that is basically an AP with a battery and a solar panel that could be dropped anywhere. Call it $2k? Contrast that to a permanent radio tower.

But your point is also right.... There's a large market that this isn't suitable for, for the reasons you've outlined. Lots of the market is conservative and analogue radios are certianly robust. But that doesn't mean there's no market. Need to keep an open mind.