It doesn’t take two seconds to look this stuff up. The reason why I said it is BECAUSE previously I took the few seconds to look it up previously (when someone else had said the same thing). :0)
“[SMS] allows users to send and receive messages of up to 160 characters (when entirely alpha-numeric) to and from GSM mobiles. Although most SMS messages are sent from one mobile phone to another, support for the service has expanded to include other mobile technologies, such as CDMA networks and Digital AMPS.”
It was, initially, GSM only because only GSM had it as a feature. Other non-GSM networks adopted it and, with it as a firmly expected feature, all future iterations have included it as well.
Google, since it now controls RCS, (which is merely a standard) does not require a mobile network. In fact it circumvents it entirely and routes the data to Google’s servers… but hey, maybe I’m getting too technical for you.
Google does not control RCS. TWO seconds using Google’s search engine would show…
“RCS is a new online protocol that was chosen for adoption by the GSM Association in 2008 and is meant to replace the current texting standard SMS (Short Message Service), which has been around since the 1990s.”
That’s the GSM Association that were a part of the creation of SMS that have created a new protocol to replace… the current texting standard… SMS.
I feel that your interest in RCS might even come close to mine. When I first heard about it, it seemed like something that was on the edge of being rolled out by the GSMA and being great. Since then, carrier after carrier has refused to but in the effort/money to make it a thing (as they’d all have to do it for it to be worth it). At the carrier level, it would have been SMS, the next generation. That Google has picked it up ISN’T a sign of strength. That carriers are willing to “let Google handle that RCS thing” isn’t a ringing endorsement of the solution. It’s a recognition by the carriers, that they can literally “do nothing” and continue to make big money on shuttling tiny text messages around.
Google’s solution is, because it’s not at the carrier level, is “just another app”. Like WhatsApp, like Signal, like Telegram. And, as a result, it’s no better than any of those, it’s just one more icon with data that’s secured within itself and not shared with any other network. My fear is that Google’s efforts are the last gasp of RCS and that, once they fail at it like they’ve failed at literally every messaging effort they’ve tried, the carriers aren’t going to be proposing anything even remotely as close to the ubiquity of SMS anytime soon (not without first figuring out how to seriously upcharge for it).
Sigh... where to even start with your terribly incorrect post. It does take 2 seconds to look this stuff up. It really isn't difficult.
First, yes - it first came available on GSM. Like I keep saying -- it uses the paging line to keep your phone connected to the tower. So a lightbulb went off with other techs, including dAMPS - 1G if you will - and they said "gee whiz, we can do that too since there's excess bandwidth there"... and since it's INHERENTLY THERE on any network type, lo-and-behold it worked. It isn't, and never was, a GSM feature. Just someone looking at the connection and seeing some open space. And since GSM died at 2G, it was something repeated, over and over again.
And Google ABSOLUTELY controls RCS. 100% controls it. All servers are Google servers on the current iteration. You seem to be
very confused on the difference between a set of specifications adopted by the GSM Association and who actually runs the show. Did you know that the 3GPP developed the specifications for UMTS out of W-CDMA, then LTE, and now NR? They sure did... and Qualcomm owns virtually every patent on the radio technologies - they seemed to have successfully sued Apple for not paying royalties; Samsung barely ever uses its own chipset outside of Korea because of the patents. See how that works?
Google runs RCS, they circumvented the carriers who all had their own closed-off systems. Even Samsung had their own prior to pairing up with Google -- it was a big deal that Samsung dropped their own messaging app for Google. Google Chat RCS doesn't talk to T-Mobile Advanced Messaging. It doesn't talk to Verizon Advanced Messaging. It doesn't talk to AT&T Advanced Messaging. It doesn't talk to any global networks singular deployment of RCS, period. And none of them talked to one-another either. See the problem yet? Because RCS doesn't require a centralized system, each carrier set up their own messaging platform, and world, and lorded over it.
Enter Google, with its Chat Universal Profile. It ripped away control from the carriers, made their own app that also worked with SMS, enabled RCS on every Android phone that used this app, and completely circumvented the carriers. There are ZERO third-party APIs to access Google's RCS platform. None. You can't do it. Google controls RCS, and any push for others to adopt it is merely a push by Google to control messaging.
Here's an article from the Android Police calling Google out for this...
https://www.androidpolice.com/googles-rcs-drama-with-apple-explained/
I mean, I tried to tell you that you were mistaken, and only explained this... several times. It seems like your interest in RCS simply lacks any level of comprehension, since you seem to fail to understand even the most basic pieces of it. And I particularly appreciate this line from that link, which I've also said at least twice... "it’s all tied to a phone number. (Though we should point out,
more recent Universal Profile specifications actually allow that to be decoupled, relying instead on an OpenID.)" -- and that link inside that quote... ouch.
Sorry... I tried...
www.theinterface.uk
