4 ms·

People in the UK still use SMS?

mdp2021 2y ago
> still use SMS? Instead of? If you have to send text to an occasional user, what do you think should be used? The article is about /receiving/ messages supposedly from firms. How should they have sent it?
- lrvick 2y ago
  Maybe something with at least TLS like email.
  - mdp2021 2y ago
    The issue with those kind of messages is sender authentication, not content confidentiality.
porker 2y ago
The National Health Service communicates with people via SMS. The NHS has an app, but doesn't send notifications through it. My guess is because our population can all cope with SMS by now, but anything more...
- denton-scratch 2y ago
  HMRC also seems to require an SMS-capable device for 2FA. Using the HMRC website is a soul-destroying adventure through severe speed-bumps, short session timeouts, and 72-hour delays. It's the epitome of awful, large-scale British public computer-system acquisition.
Havoc 2y ago
People not so much but services yes
johneth 2y ago
It's almost exclusively used by businesses and government to send notifications. They use SMS because it's a baseline that every phone, smart or dumb, has. No need to have an email address, no need to have an app. Most people use Whatsapp / Messenger / social media / to a lesser extent iMessage.
- denton-scratch 2y ago
  > because it's a baseline that every phone, smart or dumb, has My phone is an IP phone. It doesn't do SMS. Did you mean "mobile phone"? > No need to have an email address I'm pretty sure that more people have an email address but no SMS capability, than have SMS but no email capability.
  - johneth 2y ago
    > My phone is an IP phone. It doesn't do SMS. Did you mean "mobile phone"? UK landlines are transitioning to VoIP. SMS messages sent to UK landlines are read out by a text-to-speech system (well, my parents' does).
    - denton-scratch 2y ago
      Yes; mine does that too. Have you ever tried to use one of those TTS systems? They can just about read standard international English; anything more interesting, like someone's name, and they fall back to spelling-out the letters.
hulitu 2y ago
I guess they don't have all their friends on WhatsUP or iMessage.

mdp2021 2y ago

> still use SMS? Instead of? If you have to send text to an occasional user, what do you think should be used? The article is about /receiving/ messages supposedly from firms. How should they have sent it?

lrvick 2y ago
Maybe something with at least TLS like email.
- mdp2021 2y ago
  The issue with those kind of messages is sender authentication, not content confidentiality.

porker 2y ago

The National Health Service communicates with people via SMS. The NHS has an app, but doesn't send notifications through it. My guess is because our population can all cope with SMS by now, but anything more...

denton-scratch 2y ago
HMRC also seems to require an SMS-capable device for 2FA. Using the HMRC website is a soul-destroying adventure through severe speed-bumps, short session timeouts, and 72-hour delays. It's the epitome of awful, large-scale British public computer-system acquisition.

Havoc 2y ago

People not so much but services yes

johneth 2y ago

It's almost exclusively used by businesses and government to send notifications. They use SMS because it's a baseline that every phone, smart or dumb, has. No need to have an email address, no need to have an app. Most people use Whatsapp / Messenger / social media / to a lesser extent iMessage.

denton-scratch 2y ago
> because it's a baseline that every phone, smart or dumb, has My phone is an IP phone. It doesn't do SMS. Did you mean "mobile phone"? > No need to have an email address I'm pretty sure that more people have an email address but no SMS capability, than have SMS but no email capability.
- johneth 2y ago
  > My phone is an IP phone. It doesn't do SMS. Did you mean "mobile phone"? UK landlines are transitioning to VoIP. SMS messages sent to UK landlines are read out by a text-to-speech system (well, my parents' does).
  - denton-scratch 2y ago
    Yes; mine does that too. Have you ever tried to use one of those TTS systems? They can just about read standard international English; anything more interesting, like someone's name, and they fall back to spelling-out the letters.

hulitu 2y ago

I guess they don't have all their friends on WhatsUP or iMessage.