Rest in peace SMS

Kevin Lancaster

Kevin Lancaster

MyBroadband Editor
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RIP SMS

Vodacom’s latest numbers show a drastic decline in SMS volumes, which comes at a time when instant messaging is skyrocketing.
 
SMS may be worked out by the general consumer, but it will still be used in business and enterprise solutions to do ‘wireless’ communication when it comes to GSM technologies.
 
And 3.9 billion of those 4 billion message start with "RICA HAVE REWARDED YOU..."
 
" 100 Free sms plus 150mb of data per month"

Coming soon to a Vodacom store near you.
 
They should reduce the costs of the SMS messaging system in line with data costs... and then people will start using it again in droves.
 
The contents of the news item duly noted. There are a few interesting facts besides the cost difference namely - technology of the two modes.
1 - IM - Uses the Mobile Data frequencies to transmit the messages.
1.1 - If the Mobile Data Signal is suffering from high signal to noise ratio
(Poor Signal) then your IM Message WILL be delayed.
1.2 - Mobile Data Signal frequencies generally suffer from small footprint issues.
(2.1Ghz/1.8Ghz & 2.6Ghz).
2- SMS - Uses the GSM frequencies to transmit the messages.
2.1 - These frequencies (900Mhz) have a greater footprint.
3- Concluding that if your phone is active in poor data area your IM message delivery will be delayed or not delivered, but the SMS message has a greater chance of being received in poor GSM signal areas

I prefer using SMS and will try use all of any SMS bundle. Cannot see the need to change to IM because of peer pressure.
 
Last edited:
Scooby_Doo said:
Can our carriers track how many messages we send in WhatsApp?

Is the connection not encrypted?
Click to expand...

Could be Whatsapp servers tracking count?
Or, amount of data/average size of message.
Or they could check the package overheads.

Just because it is encrypted doesn't mean one doesn't know what it is, just that one doesn't know what it contains.
Think of a VPN connection, the ISP knows you are using one, but has no clue what you are doing within that connections (unless they start decrypting etc.).
 
SMS as a source of revenue was a complete bonus for mobile operators, and instead of sharing the bonanza, they bled their customers for years. The sooner the margin gets squeezed out of that, the better
 
If networks hadn't charged so much for smses back in the day there wouldn't have been a desperate need for instant messaging. Now sms is pretty much dead and mostly used to spam people. I have hundreds of free smses at any given moment and they are never used.
 
Ivanr said:
The contents of the news item duly noted. There are a few interesting facts besides the cost difference namely - technology of the two modes.
1 - MI - Uses the Mobile Data frequencies to transmit the messages.
/snip
Click to expand...
What is MI or is it IM?
 
Ivanr said:
The contents of the news item duly noted. There are a few interesting facts besides the cost difference namely - technology of the two modes.
1 - MI - Uses the Mobile Data frequencies to transmit the messages.
1.1 - If the Mobile Data Signal is suffering from high signal to noise ratio
(Poor Signal) then your MI Message WILL be delayed.
1.2 - Mobile Data Signal frequencies generally suffer from small footprint issues.
(2.1Ghz/1.8Ghz & 2.6Ghz).
2- SMS - Uses the GSM frequencies to transmit the messages.
2.1 - These frequencies (900Mhz) have a greater footprint.
3- Concluding that if your phone is active in poor data area your MI message delivery will be delayed or not delivered, but the SMS message has a greater chance of being received in poor GSM signal areas

I prefer using SMS and will try use all of any SMS bundle. Cannot see the need to change to MI because of peer pressure.
Click to expand...

WTF is this dude smoking?

SMS messages have historically been delayed within the networks, the message doesn't go through on the handset until the network accepts it. Signal/Noise ratio is not applicable to digital networks, instead a useful metric is BER or bit-error-rate.

GPRS/EDGE also use the GSM frequencies to send and receive, the modulation schemes are where the magic happens.

These days, even in poor reception areas I have been able to get small payload TCP packets through to servers, quite remarkably well.
GSM chipsets have improved tremendously in recent years, which leads me to conclude this guy is using a VERY OLD phone still.
 
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