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> 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 wh

> 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.

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.