4 ms·

How do you message when you don't have wifi/data? I can SMS from more remote places than I can any internet-based service.

coldtea 4y ago
In most of the world you do have either wifi or data coverage. Usually, if you don't have data for signal (as opposed to run out of data in your plan) reasons, then you don't have signal at all, even for SMS, either...
bmicraft 4y ago
I've never been anywhere where I legitimately had signal but no data. When it seems to be connected buy isn't, sms mostly also won't go though. I also think there are less "remote" places in europe in general.
joecot 4y ago
You don't. But in the US I'm rarely in a place where I have no data but SMS still works. And Europe has more effective telecom service.
- culturestate 4y ago
  > Europe has more effective telecom service Some of Europe has very effective telecom infrastructure, but that's far from universal.
  - dghughes 4y ago
    Cries in Canadian :(
    - culturestate 4y ago
      It could be worse. Service is so famously bad in Germany that they invented a word for it - Funklochrepublik, which basically means "radio hole republic."
zeku 4y ago
You just don't. Their adoption of Whatsapp(at least in Spain), seems to have been driven by a period in time when WhatsApp was coming up that the plans sold by cell service providers were near unlimited data, but only X amount of calls/texts allowed to be sent per month. In the USA we had opposite plans during this time. Unlimited talk/text, but strict data caps.
kaba0 4y ago
Well, with imessage being on topic, apple seems to be really terrible at changing to sms when someone is not available online — I ran out of internet data once and tried to text my girlfriend on imessage assuming it will just send an sms, and it just waited for like 10 minutes before telling me it couldn’t be sent. The other side is even worse - I would have assumed apple checks whether the other half is expected to come online anytime soon and if not, send an sms instead. Nope, you just don’t get a message and are expected to long press and send as sms manually.
inkyoto 4y ago
And I have been to a number of islands across Polynesia and Micronesia where the cellular service simply does not exist; however, there is always Wi-Fi in hotels. SMS is of no use in such places.
kalleboo 4y ago
With 4G taking over, this will no longer be a differentiator, as on 4G SMS also goes over data (via VoLTE). At least where I live, 4G got deployed on the low bands freed up by the digital TV switchover and hence has the best reception in remote areas.

coldtea 4y ago

In most of the world you do have either wifi or data coverage. Usually, if you don't have data for signal (as opposed to run out of data in your plan) reasons, then you don't have signal at all, even for SMS, either...

bmicraft 4y ago

I've never been anywhere where I legitimately had signal but no data. When it seems to be connected buy isn't, sms mostly also won't go though. I also think there are less "remote" places in europe in general.

joecot 4y ago

You don't. But in the US I'm rarely in a place where I have no data but SMS still works. And Europe has more effective telecom service.

culturestate 4y ago
> Europe has more effective telecom service Some of Europe has very effective telecom infrastructure, but that's far from universal.
- dghughes 4y ago
  Cries in Canadian :(
  - culturestate 4y ago
    It could be worse. Service is so famously bad in Germany that they invented a word for it - Funklochrepublik, which basically means "radio hole republic."

zeku 4y ago

You just don't. Their adoption of Whatsapp(at least in Spain), seems to have been driven by a period in time when WhatsApp was coming up that the plans sold by cell service providers were near unlimited data, but only X amount of calls/texts allowed to be sent per month. In the USA we had opposite plans during this time. Unlimited talk/text, but strict data caps.

kaba0 4y ago

Well, with imessage being on topic, apple seems to be really terrible at changing to sms when someone is not available online — I ran out of internet data once and tried to text my girlfriend on imessage assuming it will just send an sms, and it just waited for like 10 minutes before telling me it couldn’t be sent. The other side is even worse - I would have assumed apple checks whether the other half is expected to come online anytime soon and if not, send an sms instead. Nope, you just don’t get a message and are expected to long press and send as sms manually.

inkyoto 4y ago

And I have been to a number of islands across Polynesia and Micronesia where the cellular service simply does not exist; however, there is always Wi-Fi in hotels. SMS is of no use in such places.

kalleboo 4y ago

With 4G taking over, this will no longer be a differentiator, as on 4G SMS also goes over data (via VoLTE). At least where I live, 4G got deployed on the low bands freed up by the digital TV switchover and hence has the best reception in remote areas.