I agree. SMS is still a cash cow for carriers world wide from businesses, and this is service provided by carrier with no cost at all, well, maybe just accounting, but this is automated. Unlike consumer plans, business plans do not have unlimited SMSes AFAIK.
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Google Again Criticizes Apple for Not Adopting RCS for Messages App: 'Their Texting is Stuck in the 1990s'
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I mean the big 4 (now big 3) already did it in the US when they killed off previous gen technology (2g, etc). Forcing users to upgrade is not a problem for them. It's more profitable. And I doubt there will be 20% of the userbase that doesn't use an iPhone or and Android phone that can be upgraded to RCS.
I wouldn't say I'm "consistently" ignoring it. My post was focusing on what I could do with iMessages when it came to non-iPhone users.
SMS is extremely limited. It really hasn't progressed from when I first used it in the late 1990s (minus cost). The fact that most people I know who use Android prefer Hangouts, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp is because of the fact that SMS / MMS is so horrible.
My post was more addressing the statement that I believe iMessages is not stuck in the 1990s.
Back when I was using a Note 3 - Google had a handful of messaging applications that were half baked and half a**ed. They didn't even work well across different Android manufacturers and a lot of them were abandoned before the user base could even adopt them - which most didn't want to anyway, preferring to use Telegram/WhatsApp instead.
I can't imagine having to text from my phone. I send hundreds of texts a day from my MacBook. I only use my phone if I have to. I realize that most people I know use their phone.
Most people I know now days are using Instagram, Snapchat, or things of the like (I've never really used these). I guess I'm an old fart now
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Except GSMA shows that 90 carriers in 60 countries have in fact implemented RCS:
Global Launches
Launched by 52 operators in 38 countries, RCS is proving to be a truly global messaging platform. Discover which operators have already launched.
www.gsma.com
My point is still valid. Your problem is not resolved at all completely. You still would have your "problem".Except GSMA shows that 90 carriers in 60 countries have in fact implemented RCS:
Global Launches
Launched by 52 operators in 38 countries, RCS is proving to be a truly global messaging platform. Discover which operators have already launched.
Besides, it was pointed out in this thread that the GSMA list is outdated. Some of those carriers have since stopped their "support" and almost all of those still "supporting" it are basically doing nothing by sending traffic to Google's proprietary RCS servers.
Btw, nice deflection there, tho. it doesn't invalidate my points at all.
Apple would "deprecate" the first carrier to drop SMS support and the rest would bow down.
Yes, “in the US” where the 2G antennas in the US serving US customers are controlled by the US carriers. All they had to do is wait until the number of 2G users dropped (WAY below 20%) which they made happen by stopping selling 2G phones years earlier.
SMS is not limited by US borders so all carriers in the world would have to agree that RCS replaces SMS. And, since 2020, there’s been no further significant development there.
And, is it supported by 52 (the link) operators or 90 operators (the site)?
Of course, that site hasn’t been updated in over 2 years, so inaccuracies are expected. But, let’s compare that number to the number of operators in the world.800 and another 1,250 MVNO’s
RCS (if we use the higher number) has reached 90 since the FIRST implementation in 2012. Hooray? LOL! At this rate, it will be another 80 years before it gets to all the carriers. Actually, may be longer because the rate of deployment has dropped off fairly significantly. SO, maybe in 150-200 years, Apple’s going to have some decisions to make.
Why is we need to use an app such as snap chat that would never ever replace SMS/MMS?
Because of Apple and varying tech levels globally, there will never be a bing bang solution to replace SMS/MMS - it will have to be phased in and SMS/MMS phased out.
Should we not be looking into the next gen SMS/MMS? If not RCS then what should it be?
I don’t see Apple ever being part of the next gen standard def. They do not want a solution -just happy being an impediment.
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Let’s see, you wrote “RCS is not implemented by any carriers at all.”
I provided a link from the GSMA organization itself that shows it‘s implemented all over the world by scores of carriers as of 2yr ago. Others on this thread have trotted out false information about carriers (SK Telekom) dropping support but their information was way outdated and was regarding an old “Joyn” release of RCS. There have been at least 5 releases: https://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks...ng-operators-at-the-center-of-communications/
Where‘s your evidence that any of these 90 carriers have dropped RCS support since June, 2020?
What people are missing here is that there are a lot of similarities between SMS and RCS. It’s just that RCS is beginning where SMS is ending (in the US), with only one or two providers for the backend.
”AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint currently use Syniverse to route text messages to people on other networks, according to data available to Tyntec, a smaller messaging services company that spoke with The Verge. Verizon confirmed that it uses a competitor, SAP.
With those three carriers as customers, Syniverse is responsible for delivering 600 billion messages every month.
But if an AT&T customer wants to send a message to a Sprint customer, a third-party company needs to take on the work of translating AT&T’s message into Sprint’s protocol, and physically routing it from one network to the other. And thanks to some canny buyouts and years of ruthless competition, the vast majority of that work is now done by Syniverse.”
How one company you’ve never heard of swallowed tens of thousands of text messages — then spit them back out
Syniverse is too important to back away from.
www.theverge.com
This article is dated 2019. AT&T, T-Mobile & Verizon's website now all states that they are now using Google RCS solution.Let’s see, you wrote “RCS is not implemented by any carriers at all.”
I provided a link from the organization itself that shows it‘s implemented all over the world by scores of carriers as of 2yr ago. Others on this thread have trotted out false information about carriers (SK Telekom) dropping support but their information was way outdated and was regarding an old “Joyn” release of RCS. There have been at least 5 releases: https://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks...ng-operators-at-the-center-of-communications/
Where‘s your evidence that any of these 90 carriers have dropped RCS support since June, 2020?
What people are missing here is that there are a lot of similarities between SMS and RCS. It’s just that RCS is beginning where SMS is ending (in the US), with only one or two providers for the backend.
”AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint currently use Syniverse to route text messages to people on other networks, according to data available to Tyntec, a smaller messaging services company that spoke with The Verge. Verizon confirmed that it uses a competitor, SAP.
With those three carriers as customers, Syniverse is responsible for delivering 600 billion messages every month.
But if an AT&T customer wants to send a message to a Sprint customer, a third-party company needs to take on the work of translating AT&T’s message into Sprint’s protocol, and physically routing it from one network to the other. And thanks to some canny buyouts and years of ruthless competition, the vast majority of that work is now done by Syniverse.”
How one company you’ve never heard of swallowed tens of thousands of text messages — then spit them back out
Syniverse is too important to back away from.
All these has been pointed out in earlier posting in this thread.
Not sure why you are revisiting.
Edit: To add on, even if the 90 figure is accurate and true, how does it solve you problem that you stated earlier, where you cannot send GIF, audio, etc ... from your Andriod devices to another Android devices that are not using one of the 90 service providers? This is a problem that Apple cannot solve. Why are you blaming Apple? Why are you asking Apple to implement something when the majority of the service providers in the world is not implementing. Because Google is not happy?
Pretty much. The carriers can make the call at ANY time. Well, they did, but some folks don’t like the call they made
I’m not sure that you’re actually reading what I’m writing. I’m literally the one who posted all the links to the carrier RCS pages. T-Mobile clearly states that they are using RCS UP 1.0, which means it is federated.
The fact that the carriers are using Google’s free backend, rather than standing up their own RCS centers (do some research on carrier SMS centers, which in the US are becoming a thing of the past) is a huge cost savings strategy. I don’t get why people are getting worked up about this. Google wants RCS, they are providing a free app and backend infrastructure, carriers are using it, what’s the issue?
Carriers could opt to pay Syniverse for RCS, just like they do for SMS today, but why would they do that when Google is free? I’m simply drawing the parallels between the two that many did not know existed:
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Well, then pester Google to develop their app on iOS.
Why? Notice that not once have I mentioned RCS support on iOS. I mostly use Signal with my Android friends.
Hmmmm, what’s that little phrase folks have been using… “If the product is free, then something something?” Maybe that’s the issue?
And asking the GSMA gains us what if Apple is unwilling to participate?
My biggest point is Carriers, Google, and Apple should standardize the next gen SMS/MMS. If any of them don't participate we are where we are.
Google is free because you're the product. That's why we don't want it. TMobile and AT&T actually pulled out of implementing UP in favor of Google's entire custom RCS infrastructure, not just their backend. Which is also why AT&T only offers RCS on a select numbers of phones, which do not include iPhone. They could have implemented the UP instead and made it available to everyone, everywhere, but Google flashed that cash and they bit.I’m not sure that you’re actually reading what I’m writing. I’m literally the one who posted all the links to the carrier RCS pages. T-Mobile clearly states that they are using RCS UP 1.0, which means it is federated.
The fact that the carriers are using Google’s free backend, rather than standing up their own RCS centers (do some research on carrier SMS centers, which in the US are becoming a thing of the past) is a huge cost savings strategy. I don’t get why people are getting worked up about this. Google wants RCS, they are providing a free app and backend infrastructure, carriers are using it, what’s the issue?
Carriers could opt to pay Syniverse for RCS, just like they do for SMS today, but why would they do that when Google is free? I’m simply drawing the parallels between the two that many did not know existed:
And Google flashed that cash because the US carriers aren’t going with Google because they see a powerful need for RCS communications to exist. And, they’re not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts for their poor US customers. They’re doing it Google’s dollars are literally the only way they’d see profit from the implementation. Considering how Google is rapidly killing projects and R&D left and right, some executive is going to eventually ask what benefit they’re receiving from all this outlay… Those services may not be long for this world!
Because this is the order of operations. It benefits Apple nothing to implement a protocol not being used by carriers. Carriers institute a UP standard and then the messengers get updated with whatever protocol is utilized. What if Apple implements standard RCS and carriers all implement RCSe? They're going to look pretty dumb.