Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

drober30

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
840
97
I don't understand what the benefit of turning off iMessage would be?
 

sawah

macrumors 65816
Sep 13, 2010
1,126
686
My family plan with 4 phones has unlimited texts. My mom is the only one with an iPhone 200meg data plan. We send a lot of pictures back and fourth so we are testing to see how much data it uses. However AT&T has no other messaging plans so really it doesn't matter. I'm not gonna give up unlimited even though the two of us an use iMessage. Not everyone has an iPhone. Most people I know don't.
 

jkozlow3

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
973
658
Verizon.

No simultaneous voice & data. iMessage uses data, standard text messages do not.

With iMessage enabled and on a call, I do not receive messages for 5-6 minutes (tested this exhaustively with my sister), as the phone will eventually revert to automatically sending the message as an SMS after what appears to be a 5 minute timeout.

My options:

A. Get some of my messages delivered on a 5+ minute delay if I'm on a call.
B. Get my messages with no delay with an unlimited texting plan.

I went with option B and disabled iMessage.
 

pcunite

macrumors member
Nov 26, 2010
97
2
My wife has her data turned off (200mb plan). When she is near wifi there is no problem, when she is not it's a 5 minute wait before she gets the text.
 

JamesGorman

macrumors 65816
Dec 31, 2008
1,123
1
Winnipeg
Verizon.

No simultaneous voice & data. iMessage uses data, standard text messages do not.

With iMessage enabled and on a call, I do not receive messages for 5-6 minutes (tested this exhaustively with my sister), as the phone will eventually revert to automatically sending the message as an SMS after what appears to be a 5 minute timeout.

My options:

A. Get some of my messages delivered on a 5+ minute delay if I'm on a call.
B. Get my messages with no delay with an unlimited texting plan.

I went with option B and disabled iMessage.

I can't believe a network like verizon does not let you do both at once. Unbelievable.
 

sawah

macrumors 65816
Sep 13, 2010
1,126
686
It's not that they don't let you. It's not possible on CDMA. It's also not possible on AT&T when you don't have 3G.
 

jkozlow3

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
973
658
Advantage: AT&T.

You receive iMessages while on a phone call.

I was with AT&T for 5 years in Colorado with no major complaints, but once I relocated to NYC 6 months ago, my life became PAINFUL. AT&T is simply horrible here and things have been much better since I switched to Verizon a week ago with the release of the 4S.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a Verizon vs. AT&T thread, but I'll gladly give up simultaneous voice & data for a year (until the LTE iPhone) in order to gain a consistently usable phone...and that's something I never had in NYC with AT&T.

----------

It's not that they don't let you. It's not possible on CDMA. It's also not possible on AT&T when you don't have 3G.

It's technically possible on Verizon, but it requires 2 radios in the phone which operate simultaneously - 1 for voice and 1 for data. They have offered at least one phone in the past which supported this. They also could have made some updates to their CDMA network awhile back to support simultaneous voice and data but choose not to in favor of building their LTE network which allows simultaneous voice and data inherently.
 

Ke1ington

macrumors 6502a
Dec 29, 2009
625
27
iMessages don't show up in my Lockinfo display so I disabled iMessage. We've got unlimited texting anyway.

I actually prefer the green bubbles over the blue anyway.
 

Airmark1

macrumors regular
Jul 26, 2008
194
0
I use both. It's. Nice when I am somewhere where text wont work like a cave, outerspace, or (EDIT) from a plane. We have no cell coverage, but have data (wifi). I can text the wife (or other iMessengers) from 45,000. It's not just for sh:ts and giggles. I use it to tell the family if I am delayed, early etc. I would never turn it off. It's a huge plus for me.

iPhone 4s AT&T.
 
Last edited:

Airmark1

macrumors regular
Jul 26, 2008
194
0
iMessages don't show up in my Lockinfo display so I disabled iMessage. We've got unlimited texting anyway.

I actually prefer the green bubbles over the blue anyway.

Nice to hear. Not nice to hear that it doesn't work. But nice to hear you are on iOS5 and JB. I'm sure the guys will figure it out sooner or later to show up on lockinfo.

The one HUGE thing I miss is SB settings. On a iPhone 4s and loving it. But the fact I have to do 8 million keys to set my brightness, wifi, sounds is a pain in the a**.
 

drober30

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
840
97
I really agree that if Verizon does not allow iMessage while your on a call, this is a very good reason to disable iMessage, especially if you have unlimited texting.
 
Last edited:

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,771
5,228
192.168.1.1
Isn't CDMA like ancient technology?

Yeah, this doesn't need to be a CDMA vs. GSM or Verizon vs. AT&T thread, but...

CDMA is technically newer than GSM. It's not a "worse" technology, just different.

While it doesn't permit simultaneous voice and data in the current implementation (rev. A), it does have a few advantages - fewer cell towers are required to blanket an area with coverage as compared with a 3G GSM network and the CDMA frequencies used have much better structure penetration (buildings, homes, etc.) for better signal indoors. And because of these differences, CDMA networks tend to be more reliable in heavily congested areas than GSM networks - not always, but on average.

CDMA 3G rev. B does support simultaneous voice and data, but VZW chose to build out their LTE network instead of implementing Rev. B changes (the better choice IMHO).

In the end, I think VZW did the smart thing by pushing out their LTE network instead of upgrading to 3.5G HSPDA+ (aka, faux-G 4G) like T-Mobile and AT&T. LTE has the potential to be much, much faster than HSPDA+ and can be more easily upgraded to the LTE-Advanced technology that will be the basis of what will probably be called "5G" by the carriers.

Now we just need to wait for the LTE chipsets to become smaller and more battery-friendly. Q1-Q2 2012 is what I've read.
 

vettori

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2008
612
2
Italy, near Venice
When sending to a group, replies go to everyone !
No-one that does marketing or works with mass messages or just sends the same text to people that don't know each other, usually wants that a reply goes to everyone in the group.
 

Primejimbo

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2008
3,295
131
Around
I like to know the battery difference between the 2. Today I am going to use iMessage to see how my battery at the end of the day is. Anyone else notices if one is better than the other with battery life. I figured since iMessage uses date it might drain the battery more.
 

chris2k5

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2010
687
0
I don't get these complaints about receiving messages while in a phone call...If you are in a phone call on CDMA, it will just revert back to text.
 

polobreaka

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2009
801
1
Huntington Beach, CA
is everyone missing the point of imessage?

imessage is always set at default if turned on, if it is able to delivery as imessage, then it will, if it doesnt, then it will send as regular SMS.

if you're talking on the phone with CDMA, then obviously it doesnt delivery as imessage and will come through as SMS.

here is a good thread about imessage if you're still confused-
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1166367/
 

jkozlow3

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
973
658
I don't get these complaints about receiving messages while in a phone call...If you are in a phone call on CDMA, it will just revert back to text.

is everyone missing the point of imessage?

imessage is always set at default if turned on, if it is able to delivery as imessage, then it will, if it doesnt, then it will send as regular SMS.

if you're talking on the phone with CDMA, then obviously it doesnt delivery as imessage and will come through as SMS.

here is a good thread about imessage if you're still confused-
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1166367/


Yes, but while on a call on a CDMA iPhone, each iMessage is sent with a 5 minute delay. I've tested this exhaustively. If after 5 minutes, the message does not send, the message is automatically converted to SMS and then you will receive it while on the call.

This does however make it impossible to carry on a text conversation with someone while on the phone (i.e. while on a conference call and not actively engaging in conversation) since each message tries to send as an iMessage before reverting to SMS after 5 minutes. Therefore, I've disabled iMessage on my CDMA Verizon iPhone so that I get my messages as texts without any delay. Personal choice.
 

tivoboy

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2005
3,978
791
iMessage

Imessage defaults to SMS (if one has that setting setup) if the other persons device is OFF. even if you send an imessage, I don't think imessages will cache anywhere, the device has to be ON and telling the network that it/and the imessage app is ready for action.

Bummer is, the default to SMS takes over and then one is dinged with SMS charges if they don't have a plan or unlimited or whatever.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.