It’s pathetic compared to, e.g. a droid, which is smaller than one cigarette pack, can call people across the globe also, except that you can choose who in particular you wish to speak to (but not necessarily for free) if you have their number, which incidentally you can look up, and with which you can also surf the web, get GPS info as to your location, and as shown on satellite images or maps, store zillions of photos, music, videos, and also have games, drawing programs, and get real-time news, translation services, tweets, emails, and perhaps even the real-time location of your acquaintances in your vicinity, etc. Lest you think I’m knocking ham radio, I’m not - I’m a ham, have a radio, and do so for a good reason.
But it’s very limited in comparison, incidentally in no small part because the FCC prohibits many kinds of utility and innovation in those bands. Still, I wouldn’t want to be without one. As a matter of fact, I have ham radio and don’t have a droid, at least not yet.
Cell phones are great - as long as someone else sells you the service. You certainly wouldn't want to use a ham radio to call your wife if you have a cell phone.
However a ham radio can be far more useful if you find yourself in a forest, or away from civilization in general. This is not hard to do in the USA. Take any dirt road that branches off of a major interstate, drive a few miles, then wreck the car and break your leg. You can see the road from there, and hundreds of cars, but there is no cellular signal, and short of setting fire to your own car you can't send a signal to anyone.
But you might have an HF ham radio and a spool of wire for an antenna. Then throw the spool at a tree, plug the radio into the car's 12V, and in minutes you will find someone who will relay your information to the relevant authorities. This, as matter of fact, happens from time to time and I read about that in ARRL Letters.
And of course if TSHTF then all communications all over the country will be shut down by one side of the conflict or by another. People with Droids will be left with useless pieces of plastic. Hams will not notice any change. Maybe some VHF repeaters will go down; but HF, and LOS V/UHF will stay with us. Hams will be the only people with ability to communicate.
But it’s very limited in comparison, incidentally in no small part because the FCC prohibits many kinds of utility and innovation in those bands.
I don't want a portable computer in my HT. If I want a computer I'd get a computer. A radio is used for communication, and modern radios are pretty good at that - as good as physics and technology permit. I don't want even one mW of battery power to be spent on useless stuff.
In terms of channel capacity, check out wideband digital modes. These days most digital modes are used with narrowband and slow settings because that's good for QRP and DX operation. However in the menu you will find settings for wideband operation; this buys you the bit rate. You can transfer *a lot* of data this way if you run a stationary emergency communication facility. The data comes to you as files, you just paste them into the transmit window and press a button. Can't be simpler (well, ALE would make it even simpler, but that's not sporting :-) These digital modes are resilient to interference and can operate at poor s/n ratios, which helps in QRP operations (if you need to save power) or in long path operations. They also can't be trivially intercepted by a human with a scanner (you need a properly equipped station.) And if things really go south you can always send the data encrypted with GnuPG or PGP and ASCII-armored. This guarantees that nobody except the other end of the link will be able to decode. Today this is, of course, illegal and is not practiced; but if for some reason the government falls its rules and regulations will be taken over by the people, just as it should be.
but as faras i can tell it is the only untraced and non-archived means of communication.