RCS messaging in South Africa - only MTN doesn't offer support

Jan

Jan

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All but one of South Africa's major mobile operators offer RCS messaging

MTN is the only South African mobile operator that doesn't offer Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging. However, it acknowledged that the technology is becoming more popular in the country.

MyBroadband asked Cell C, MTN, Telkom, and Vodacom whether they support RCS messaging and for details on the profiles they use.
 
blunt

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AfriNatic said:
It's done by MTN directly. So if it's available on MTN you can use it with Air Mobile.
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Hmm ok, someone better tell Ms O'Sullivan it does work..
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Ockie

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Google have bypassed the network's in most of the world. If your network does not support it themselves, then the Messages app will use the Google RCS servers to connect you to RCS.
 
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Ockie said:
Google have bypassed the network's in most of the world. If your network does not support it themselves, then the Messages app will use the Google RCS servers to connect you to RCS.
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alright - that makes sense then
 
blunt

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AfriNatic said:
The phone number gets verified via SMS but it could be that the data being used goes through our APN and works.
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works on the mtn APN as well, guess they just haven't gone out of their way to block the bypass.
 
system32

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According to Mobi Solutions Group member Messente, Google created RCS messaging to offer non-Apple phone users a competitive alternative to iMessage.
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AFAIK, RCS is a GSMA standard
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services
The Rich Communication Suite industry initiative was formed by a group of industry promoters in 2007. In February 2008 the GSM Association officially became the project home of RCS and an RCS steering committee was established by the organisation.
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The standard is quite complicated and delegated to the network.
Most networks fail / don't bother to implement it / don't have the skills.
Google has providing direct-to-consumer RCS service and has been pushing the RCS standard.

According to https://www.messengerpeople.com/rcs-messaging-marketing-guide/
good old SMS is shaping out to be a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers.

And the main reason for that is a recent upgrade to text messaging: RCS messaging. RCS messaging now offers businesses a lot of amazing opportunities to reach their clients directly, with engaging content, on a channel they won’t ignore.
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RSC sounds like a spam tool.
 
Johand

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Good luck displacing WhatsApp! Even people in the tech community doesn't use RCS. I personally have been using Signal secondary to WhatsApp (most of my friends are on Signal, so I can safely ignore whatsapp outside work hours). So not sure what the use case for RCS is...
 
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system32 said:
AFAIK, RCS is a GSMA standard
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services


The standard is quite complicated and delegated to the network.
Most networks fail / don't bother to implement it / don't have the skills.
Google has providing direct-to-consumer RCS service and has been pushing the RCS standard.

According to https://www.messengerpeople.com/rcs-messaging-marketing-guide/

RSC sounds like a spam tool.
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Pretty much everything's a spam tool,WhatsApp is starting to become a spam tool in SA,
but its more of phasing out the call centre, gen z hardly makes calls everything is over text, for example in the US Delta airlines communicates over sms/imessage
 
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blunt

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system32 said:
Is RCS messaging free on MTN/Voda/Cell-C/Telkom or is it charged like an SMS?

Why not just use free Signal / WhatsApp / Telegram?
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I sent some to my wife on WiFi and off wifi and my airtime balance did not change
 
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Keanu Leeves

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system32 said:
Is RCS messaging free on MTN/Voda/Cell-C/Telkom or is it charged like an SMS?

Why not just use free Signal / WhatsApp / Telegram?
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It is free works like WhatsApp,don't have to download an app and most importantly doesn't compress photos/videos, as for WhatsApp,it's not popular in the US and RCS is supposed to fix the messaging mess over there they still SMS each other and images/videos get compressed to potatoes.
 
Johand

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Keanu Leeves said:
It is free works like WhatsApp,don't have to download an app and most importantly doesn't compress photos/videos, as for WhatsApp,it's not popular in the US and RCS is supposed to fix the messaging mess over there they still SMS each other and images/videos get compressed to potatoes.
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They also still use paper cheques in the US :laugh: I am surprised how far behind the times they are sometime.

Also they have the added complexity that Apple has successfully fragmented their market with iMessage.
 
Vorastra

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Meanwhile here I am on Vodacom and Messages just sits on connecting and nothing else.

Edit: for anyone in future who finds this thread. I fixed the issue. Use this as a last resort and you have no clue what the issue is.

It seems the feature can get bugged and think it's registered on another server or phone or something.

Disable chat features in Messages.

Go to Advanced in Messages, make sure your number is there and not "unknown".

Use the Google site to "deregister without your device", put in your number then input the verification number you receive by SMS.

How to turn off RCS chats

messages.google.com messages.google.com

It should say successful and that to wait a bit to reflect. Wait 5 minutes to make sure.

Go back into the Message app, enable chat features.

It should connect.
 
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