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Oh, I didn't know that. So those services where you send an email to an address and it shows up as an SMS are not generally open? Yeah, I guess that would move

Oh, I didn't know that. So those services where you send an email to an address and it shows up as an SMS are not generally open? Yeah, I guess that would move it into the proprietary column.

lisper 4y ago
Nope, those are all run by the cell carriers. If you change carriers, your SMS email gateway address changes too. (There are some services that try to be carrier-independent but they eventually have to interface with the carriers somehow. There is no way to send an SMS that doesn't eventually end up in the (proprietary) cell network.)
- codetrotter 4y ago
  But is the cell network ultimately different from the Internet? You have to pay an ISP too, to connect to the Internet.
  - actionfromafar 4y ago
    I can't formulate a technical reason why there is difference. I guess I have to go with culture... there are very few if any systems which talk to each other over SMS. Definitely not in a standardised manner, if so. Custom SCADA systems, maybe. (SMS is more like how modems were back in the day, re automated systems.) So there are very few apps on SMS today. Almost all communication is either machine system > human. (Spam, 2FA, etc.) Or human <-> human. Edit: in a parallel reality where we were stuck on SMS for some reason (alien invasion in 1989, successfully repelled but much of value was lost, for instance) and SMS messages were to become cheap or free (as they often are today) I could definitely see an "internet" growing up with SMS as the transfer backbone. Much of the basics could be done over SMS, status updates, "email", news and so on. Heck, Twitter ran on sms I'm told. (It was a US thing, right?)
  - lisper 4y ago
    The cell network is radically different from the internet. 1. You need a SIM card to connect to the cell network. There is no cell-network equivalent of "free wifi". 2. If you have a (paid) internet connection you can net anyone connect to it with their own hardware. You can't share a cell network connection that way. 3. The internet is packet-switched. The cell network is (mostly) connection-based. 4. The cell network lacks broadcast and multicast protocols. 5. Cell network connections are always peer-to-peer. You can't have a "server" on the cell network. The concept doesn't even make sense. I could go on and on.
    - nikau 4y ago
      Free WiFi equivalent exists when you call 112 emergency services. No sim required, any cell tower from any carrier will allow the call.

Oh, I didn't know that. So those services where you send an email to an address and it shows up as an SMS are not generally open? Yeah, I guess that would move it into the proprietary column.

lisper 4y ago

Nope, those are all run by the cell carriers. If you change carriers, your SMS email gateway address changes too. (There are some services that try to be carrier-independent but they eventually have to interface with the carriers somehow. There is no way to send an SMS that doesn't eventually end up in the (proprietary) cell network.)

codetrotter 4y ago
But is the cell network ultimately different from the Internet? You have to pay an ISP too, to connect to the Internet.
- actionfromafar 4y ago
  I can't formulate a technical reason why there is difference. I guess I have to go with culture... there are very few if any systems which talk to each other over SMS. Definitely not in a standardised manner, if so. Custom SCADA systems, maybe. (SMS is more like how modems were back in the day, re automated systems.) So there are very few apps on SMS today. Almost all communication is either machine system > human. (Spam, 2FA, etc.) Or human <-> human. Edit: in a parallel reality where we were stuck on SMS for some reason (alien invasion in 1989, successfully repelled but much of value was lost, for instance) and SMS messages were to become cheap or free (as they often are today) I could definitely see an "internet" growing up with SMS as the transfer backbone. Much of the basics could be done over SMS, status updates, "email", news and so on. Heck, Twitter ran on sms I'm told. (It was a US thing, right?)
- lisper 4y ago
  The cell network is radically different from the internet. 1. You need a SIM card to connect to the cell network. There is no cell-network equivalent of "free wifi". 2. If you have a (paid) internet connection you can net anyone connect to it with their own hardware. You can't share a cell network connection that way. 3. The internet is packet-switched. The cell network is (mostly) connection-based. 4. The cell network lacks broadcast and multicast protocols. 5. Cell network connections are always peer-to-peer. You can't have a "server" on the cell network. The concept doesn't even make sense. I could go on and on.
  - nikau 4y ago
    Free WiFi equivalent exists when you call 112 emergency services. No sim required, any cell tower from any carrier will allow the call.