A $350 radio or a $200 radio. Easy choice, right?
Not quite. The price on the box is only the first number you pay. Repeaters, licenses, subscriptions and repairs all come later, and they decide what your radios really cost.
Pricing is where the LMR vs. LTE decision is usually won or lost. So let's look at the real figures, and what they leave out.
The short answer
The radio is the cheap part. With traditional (LMR) radios, a repeater, an FCC license and upkeep can more than double the bill.
LTE has no repeater and no license, but it does have a subscription. How that subscription is priced decides whether LTE saves you money.
On a yearly plan, LTE usually wins by a wide margin. On a $25-a-month plan, it can cost about the same as a full traditional system, or more.
Why this matters
I once watched a small hospital get steered toward top-tier radios at over $900 each. All they needed was simple talk around one building. Nobody had shown them the full cost, so the sticker price looked normal. (I wrote about that one in Not Everyone Can Sell Motorola.)
Here's where the money really goes.
Traditional radios (LMR)
The radio. An entry-level business radio runs about $260 to $550 at a major reseller. Commercial-grade models sit closer to $900. Most quotes I see start around $350.
The repeater. Need range past a few miles, or through big buildings? You need a repeater. The box alone is about $3,000 to $3,700. Installed, expect $3,000 to $10,000 or more per site.
Somewhere high to put it. Repeaters need a tower or rooftop. If it isn't yours, you pay rent every month.
The FCC license. Business radios need a Part 90 license. Frequency coordination alone costs about $400 to $1,200, plus the FCC fee. Most dealers charge around $1,000 or more to handle the whole thing. It takes 2 to 6 weeks and renews every 10 years.
Upkeep. Budget around $500 a year to keep a repeater running. The radios need upkeep too: new batteries, new antennas, and repairs when one gets damaged.
LTE radios
The radio. Usually $150 to $600.
The subscription. This is the big one. Monthly plans run about $15 to $30 per radio. Some sellers use a yearly model instead, like the first year included and then $50 per radio per year.
No repeater, no license, no tower rent. LTE rides on carrier networks that are already licensed and maintained.
Watch out for "no monthly fees, ever." That usually means a set amount of data is preloaded. When it runs out, the radio stops talking. I broke this down in Is There Such a Thing as a Free LTE Radio Subscription?
The per-radio check
Take a $200 LTE radio with the first year included. Add two years of renewals at $50 each. After three years, you've spent $300.
That's still less than a $350 traditional radio on day one. And that's before the repeater and license.
Repairs are a cost too
When a traditional radio breaks out of warranty, it usually gets shipped off for repair. Then you wait, one radio short.
Some LTE subscriptions include an out-of-warranty replacement program. In the one I know, a small fee ($135) gets you a full replacement radio. No repair queue.
The 5-year math: 10 radios
The surprise: LTE on a monthly plan can cost more than a full traditional system. The pricing plan, not the technology, picks the winner.
Setup (10 radios) | Upfront | Ongoing (5 years) | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
LTE, yearly plan (1st year included, then $50/radio) | $2,500 (radios at $250) | $2,000 service | ≈ $4,500 |
LMR, no repeater (one small site) | $5,000–$9,000 (radios + license) | ~$1,000–$2,000 batteries, antennas, repairs | ≈ $6,000–$11,000 |
LMR + 1 repeater | $10,000–$14,000 (radios, repeater, license) | ~$3,500–$4,500 (repeater upkeep + radio repairs) | ≈ $13,500–$18,500 |
LTE, monthly plan ($25/radio/month) | $2,500 (radios at $250) | $15,000 service | ≈ $17,500 |
Assumes typical market prices: LMR radios at $400–$800, a $5,000 installed repeater, about $1,000 for licensing (what most dealers charge to handle it), and $1,000–$2,000 over five years for batteries, antennas and repairs. Tower rent isn't included, so the repeater row can climb higher. Your own quote will differ, but the order rarely changes.
Your options
Option | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
LMR, no repeater | One building or small site, poor cell signal, no recurring bills | Range of a few miles, license paperwork, and unencrypted channels anyone with a scanner can hear (more on that) |
LMR + repeater | A large site you control that must work even if cell networks go down | The biggest upfront bill, tower rent, upkeep and license renewals |
LTE, monthly plan | Teams who want everything bundled into one monthly bill | It adds up fastest. Check for contracts and single-carrier lock-in |
LTE, yearly plan | Multi-site teams, drivers, anyone who leaves the building | Needs cell or Wi-Fi coverage. Check what's included, like GPS or dispatch |
"No monthly fee" LTE | Very light, occasional use | Preloaded data runs out, and the radios are often cheaply built |
What I'd do
Price the whole system over five years, not the radio. A cheap radio on an expensive plan, or a cheap radio that needs a $5,000 repeater, isn't cheap.
If your team leaves the building, or you run more than one site, I'd start with LTE on a yearly plan. It's the lowest 5-year cost in almost every quote I build.
If you're one small site with weak cell signal, a basic LMR setup with no repeater can still make sense. I'll tell you if that's you.
And you don't have to pick just one way to pay. One car plant I work with keeps most of its radios on the in-house Wi-Fi and only renews the ones that leave the site. I told that story in the subscription article.
Quick checklist before you buy
Ask for a 5-year total, not a price per radio
Does this setup need a repeater? Who pays for the site rent?
Who files the FCC license, what does it cost, and when does it renew?
LTE: is it monthly or yearly? Is there a contract? Which carriers can it use?
"No monthly fee"? Ask how much data is loaded and what happens when it runs out
What's included: GPS, dispatch, encryption?
What happens when a radio breaks after the warranty ends?
Check cell coverage where your team actually works
Want your own 5-year number?
Email me at [email protected]. Tell me how many people need radios and where they work. I'll send back an honest breakdown, even if the answer is a traditional radio.
Full disclosure: I sell radios for a living. That's exactly why I'd rather you see the whole bill up front.
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Sources
Prices change, so here's where the licensing figures came from.
FCC: Industrial/Business radio licensing — who needs a business radio license and how frequency coordination works
FIT: How much does frequency coordination cost? — coordination costs by system size, from an FCC-certified coordinator
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