With cell phones everywhere now, are marine radios still necessary in

I ain’t drifting for god knows how long trying to get a signal

Seriously?

Let’s not even worry about signal.

What happens if your cell breaks, gets wet, becomes unusable? Then you have nada.

I wouldn’t take that risk offshore. One problem with cellphones is that you need to know the number to call. If you have an emergency and need to reach the nearest vessel, what number will you call? If you call shore and they need to radio the nearest vessel, what number will they call? Radios have a very important place.

I think the better question would be, will we ever get marine radio capabilities on our phones?

your cell phone range is limited to the nearest land based cell tower

vhs marine radios are good over very long distances and ship to ship connections including a dedicated 24/7 coast guard monitored emergency channel

your cell phone is just good as an added backup insurance communication device