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> 100% bullshit. I use Discord and Slack on my phone every single day, neither of them are at a disadvantage to something like iMessage What does Discord and S

by Alupis 4y ago

> 100% bullshit. I use Discord and Slack on my phone every single day, neither of them are at a disadvantage to something like iMessage What does Discord and Slack require that SMS doesn't? Hint... an account for a proprietary service that may terminate or delete your account and/or history whenever they feel like it. Seriously... everyone agrees SMS/MMS is terrible. Smoke signals might have higher resolution images these days... we need a replacement. Just because Apple has decided to make their own proprietary thing does not bar them from getting in line with the industry and supporting RCS for non-iDevices.

Jtsummers 4y ago
> What does Discord and Slack require that SMS doesn't? Hint... an account for a proprietary service that may terminate or delete your account and/or history whenever they feel like it. Right, instead SMS requires you to pay a monthly subscription fee, and if you change providers and phone numbers you have to update all your contacts. Phone number tied messaging should be made a thing of the past, it's not something to champion anymore.
- Alupis 4y ago
  If you have a phone, you have a phone number. You can send a SMS to any mobile phone number on the planet and are (basically) guaranteed delivery. You cannot say the same for some proprietary system like Slack...
  - Jtsummers 4y ago
    Try moving internationally, see how well being tied to that US number for SMS/MMS/RCS will work for you. Or move to the US from another country, and see if any carrier will take that foreign number, or if any carrier from your home country will provide an affordable international roaming plan in the US for the longterm.
    - Wowfunhappy 4y ago
      That's a fair point—if you move internationally, you can't keep your phone number. I'd argue that's a fairly niche edge case, however, which still leaves us in a better situation than most digital identifiers. Google could relinquish my email address at any time for any reason and I'd have no recourse.
- Wowfunhappy 4y ago
  > and if you change providers and phone numbers you have to update all your contacts. At least in the United States, mobile carriers are legally required to allow you to port your phone number. Your phone number belongs to you forever (unless you choose to discard it). By contrast, most personal email addresses (which are what most people use to sign up for other services like Whatsapp) belong to for-profit companies, who can and do hold them hostage.
  - Jtsummers 4y ago
    My wife moved from Argentina to the US, the cost would have been exorbitant to keep her number and service with perpetual international roaming. Plus, SMS to her number never worked anyways (from my phone, no clue how well it worked in Argentina but she never used it anyways). SMS has been shit forever, RCS is an attempt at yet-another carrier tied service that shouldn't be tied to your carrier.
joshstrange 4y ago
> What does Discord and Slack require that SMS doesn't? Hint... an account for a proprietary service that may terminate or delete your account and/or history whenever they feel like it. I'm sorry, what are carriers? Also SMS isn't some open protocol that anyone can use, there are gatekeepers everywhere for SMS. Your "account" for SMS is your carrier account.
- Alupis 4y ago
  That's not true. Your phone number is your "account", and phone numbers, by law in the US, are not tied to a particular carrier. You can take your phone number, and messages wherever you go.
  - joshstrange 4y ago
    How is this an advantage? Phone numbers are the worst identifiers, I don't want things tied to my number. Even if I can move my number to another carrier I want less in my life tied to 10 digit number that I don't really "own". Also you can't take your messages with you unless you have them saved on your phone. SMS (and RCS as I understand it) don't account for storing/syncing your messages.
    - Alupis 4y ago
      > SMS (and RCS as I understand it) don't account for storing/syncing your messages It doesn't, which is the beauty of it. RCS is a protocol, not a service. Services can be built on top of the protocol, like storing/syncing messages - but the protocol has none of that. Perhaps you are conflating services like iMessage (and their feature set) with the protocol that is responsible for transport and send/receive of the messages, and based off that conflation are negative on Google operating a messaging service. This is not that, however. There will not be a single app for RCS... in fact there are already dozens (if not more) RCS compatible messaging apps, each with their own services/features. This is analogous to how SMS works... there is no such thing as "The SMS App".

by Alupis 4y ago

Jtsummers 4y ago

> What does Discord and Slack require that SMS doesn't? Hint... an account for a proprietary service that may terminate or delete your account and/or history whenever they feel like it. Right, instead SMS requires you to pay a monthly subscription fee, and if you change providers and phone numbers you have to update all your contacts. Phone number tied messaging should be made a thing of the past, it's not something to champion anymore.

Alupis 4y ago
If you have a phone, you have a phone number. You can send a SMS to any mobile phone number on the planet and are (basically) guaranteed delivery. You cannot say the same for some proprietary system like Slack...
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  Try moving internationally, see how well being tied to that US number for SMS/MMS/RCS will work for you. Or move to the US from another country, and see if any carrier will take that foreign number, or if any carrier from your home country will provide an affordable international roaming plan in the US for the longterm.
  - Wowfunhappy 4y ago
    That's a fair point—if you move internationally, you can't keep your phone number. I'd argue that's a fairly niche edge case, however, which still leaves us in a better situation than most digital identifiers. Google could relinquish my email address at any time for any reason and I'd have no recourse.
Wowfunhappy 4y ago
> and if you change providers and phone numbers you have to update all your contacts. At least in the United States, mobile carriers are legally required to allow you to port your phone number. Your phone number belongs to you forever (unless you choose to discard it). By contrast, most personal email addresses (which are what most people use to sign up for other services like Whatsapp) belong to for-profit companies, who can and do hold them hostage.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  My wife moved from Argentina to the US, the cost would have been exorbitant to keep her number and service with perpetual international roaming. Plus, SMS to her number never worked anyways (from my phone, no clue how well it worked in Argentina but she never used it anyways). SMS has been shit forever, RCS is an attempt at yet-another carrier tied service that shouldn't be tied to your carrier.

joshstrange 4y ago

> What does Discord and Slack require that SMS doesn't? Hint... an account for a proprietary service that may terminate or delete your account and/or history whenever they feel like it. I'm sorry, what are carriers? Also SMS isn't some open protocol that anyone can use, there are gatekeepers everywhere for SMS. Your "account" for SMS is your carrier account.

Alupis 4y ago
That's not true. Your phone number is your "account", and phone numbers, by law in the US, are not tied to a particular carrier. You can take your phone number, and messages wherever you go.
- joshstrange 4y ago
  How is this an advantage? Phone numbers are the worst identifiers, I don't want things tied to my number. Even if I can move my number to another carrier I want less in my life tied to 10 digit number that I don't really "own". Also you can't take your messages with you unless you have them saved on your phone. SMS (and RCS as I understand it) don't account for storing/syncing your messages.
  - Alupis 4y ago
    > SMS (and RCS as I understand it) don't account for storing/syncing your messages It doesn't, which is the beauty of it. RCS is a protocol, not a service. Services can be built on top of the protocol, like storing/syncing messages - but the protocol has none of that. Perhaps you are conflating services like iMessage (and their feature set) with the protocol that is responsible for transport and send/receive of the messages, and based off that conflation are negative on Google operating a messaging service. This is not that, however. There will not be a single app for RCS... in fact there are already dozens (if not more) RCS compatible messaging apps, each with their own services/features. This is analogous to how SMS works... there is no such thing as "The SMS App".