I asked Signal motivations for SMS removal

Post by madeofpalk » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 11:07 AM UTC

yason wrote: post #144

apexalpha wrote: post #20

I think you're forgetting the main reason: the group of people using it to communicate is really small and shrinking every year. The only large group of people who still primarily use SMS to communicate person-to-person is Android users in the USA. Every other country has settled on either Telegram, WeChat, WhatsApp or FB Messenger, or other niche apps. These apps work on both iOS and Android and often also Windows.…

I have most of my friends using some messenger app and based on that I run―because I basically have to run―Whatsapp and Signal myself. But those are all people I know. What would you use but SMS when contacting people you don't? Typically, if I try to reach someone but they don't answer I'll follow up with an SMS to explain what I tried to call for. If it's a co-worker, or an acquaintance, I'll send an SMS to make su…

Post by max-m » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 11:13 AM UTC

Semaphor wrote: post #110

Tor3 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely in use in Europe, but it depends. I and my wife use SMS extensively, that's simply because we both use very cheap phone plans without a built-in data plan - i.e. no internet unless we have wi-fi (the pro side of that is that the yearly phone expenses is in the (equivalent of) low tens of dollars, not hundreds of dollars). When we're networked we use Line messaging. My wife's boss communicates with all…

Huh, how cheap is that? I’m almost always in wifi range, so I got the cheapest plan I could find in Germany (4€/month, so 48€/year), and even that still includes 1 GB of data (I do need the data, to sync my shopping list for example, but I’m curious how low one can go :D).

Post by luckylion » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 11:25 AM UTC

claudedopplr wrote: post #101

luckylion wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, 51 messages _sent_ per user per month, so it's not even about receiving verification SMS. > The average mobile connection sent 51 messages per month in 2020, 17 fewer than in 2019. I'd love to know the median, I assume there's a number of power users that drives up the average. Or bots that are sending out thousands of messages a day.

"Wow"? That's two messages per day. Or just one single long conversation with somoenoe per month, like organizing a dinner and going back and forth around a subject a few times. Wow, it's really dead.

Post by nyuszika7h » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 11:36 AM UTC

jillesvangurp wrote: post #79

modo_mario wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SMS is still rather common here in Europe. Even if a ton of people use whatsapp and such SMS is often a safe option to initiate with or something trough which you get certain kinds of automated messages like appointment reminders or verification codes.

It's still used in that sense but it's very rarely used for actually sending texts between people. Basically, SMS used to be a big revenue driver for operators. That business has dried up almost completely. The notion of paying per message is just completely gone. So, operators stopped caring about SMS a long time ago. In the same way, call minutes are increasingly less relevant. It's all about 4G and internet now.

Post by derbOac » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 11:40 AM UTC

angry_octet wrote: post #126

robobro wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matrix

Matrix has fundamental security problems that they seem unwilling to fix. Almost a polar opposite to Signal.