As you know I don’t own a taxi company but I’m within earshot of most incoming calls so I generally get to know every time a system breaks for whatever reason. Taking a huge step back and trying to see the overall situation between the two, I’d say that there’s not that much difference.
From the in car side of things, there will always be a driver somewhere complaining his equipment isn’t working and that’s true whichever system is being used but at least with a PDA, everything is there in one self contained unit. If it doesn’t work then just swap it or throw it in the bin and get another it really has come down to that.
In terms of overall system independence and reliability, a professionally installed and maintained PMR system will be near impossible to beat. Just how robust it is depends on the company’s assessment of the risks and the costs involved and that in turn is usually related to the company size. Backups are needed whether you talking about base stations or phone-networks and the good news here is that because the cost of airtime is almost nothing these days, having an entire backup network is wholly realistic.
Imagine you were running a fleet of 100 inkjet printers. Would you pay £600 for a printer that I tell you it’s more reliable and should in theory last you forever or do you go out and get one for £40? In ten years time the £40 printer might have been replaced two or three times but at least you’d have a shiny new unit rather than an old one.
If I were to be setting up a taxi company today, there’s no way I’d tie myself to a technology that’s in decline. Equipment specifically designed for taxis can’t possibly keep pace with the rapid technological developments taking place in the mass PDA market and if the PDA can do the same job?
