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Why aren't transporters used more often in Star Trek Enterprise?


I am watching ENT for the first time. I have watched most of TOS, TNG, and all of Voyager. I am wondering if anyone can tell me why the crew didn't use the transporters more often? It would seem to me that quite a few of the plots in some of the episodes at the end of season 1 and early season 2 could have been easily resolved using teleporters.


For example, when Archer is in the Suliban detention camp they use the teleporter to send him a communicator from orbit. But, in the episode “communicator” when a communicator is lost on a pre-warp planet they can locate it using scanners but they don't transport it back to the ship. They never discuss it or bring it up at all. They also don't transport the crew out of the hostile situation.


Did I miss something? Is their transporter not working properly or did I miss some dialogue that fixes this issue?



Answer



"The Communicator" in particular


Early dialogue indicates that the sensors on the ship simply aren't accurate enough to lock onto Malcolm's communicator; they only get a definite position when they use hand-scanners while on the planet itself:



Hoshi: I've isolated the signal to within three city blocks. That's the best I can do, sir.



Star Trek Enterprise Season 2 Episode 8: "The Communicator"



In general


Generally speaking, it's mistrust of the technology. Malcolm and Travis discuss this in the first episode:



Travis: I heard this platform's been approved for bio-transport.


Malcolm: I presume you mean fruits and vegetables.


Travis: I mean Armoury Officers and Helmsmen.


Malcolm: I don't think I'm quite ready to have my molecules compressed into a data stream.


Travis: They claim it's safe.



Malcolm: Do they indeed. Well, I certainly hope the Captain doesn't plan on making us use it.


Travis: Don't worry, from what I'm told, he wouldn't even put his dog through this thing.


Star Trek Enterprise Season 1 Episode 1: "Broken Bow"



Later in the episode, Archer reveals just how little faith he has in the machine:



Malcolm: We could always try the transporting device.


Archer: We've risked too much to bring him back inside out.


Star Trek Enterprise Season 1 Episode 1: "Broken Bow"




And, in a later episode, Phlox discusses human apprehensions towards new technology after Hoshi reports feelings of unease following her first transport:



Phlox: Transporter technology is very new. I'm sure humans were equally frightened when the automobile was introduced, or the airplane. New forms of transport take a while to get used to. I'm not at all surprised at your reaction. You wouldn't catch me using that apparatus. But I can promise you one thing. You're in perfect health.


Star Trek Enterprise Season 2 Episode 10: "Vanishing Point"



It's worth noting that Phlox is absolutely correct in his assessment: when steam-powered trains were first introduced, there was a widespread belief that travelling at that speed would cause womens' uteruses to fly out of their bodies; humanity's irrational fear of the unknown is nothing new.


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