although there are myriad ways to stay in touch with a smartphone texting via
short message service or sms is still ubiquitous if you have a cell phone you
can use sms but why is that still the case today i mean think about how many
apps you have that use data connections and offer such a more feature-rich
experience there's whatsapp snapchat facebook messenger yet despite being an
antiquated system sms is still as common among smartphone users as say starbucks
in new york city so the question is why first off smartphones support sms
natively even if you're still using an older flip phone you can stay in touch
show from sms there's no need to download an app and go through all the
rig and roll of registering for an account with some social media platform
and worrying if the person you want to contact is also on that same platform if
you have a phone number you have sms that makes it very easy to reach out to
someone regardless of what their other messenger app or phone maker of choice
may be this has continued to make sms popular as a quick way to reach out to
new friends and colleagues as well as with older generations who prefer the
simplicity of texting over having multiple social media connected
messenger accounts with extra fancy features wow sms is also very cheap at
least if you're in the us where data can get expensive although if you're old
like me you might remember the days when flip phones ruled the world and you only
got so many texts per month included in your plan lest you reap the anger of
your parents for sending 500 texts to your bff jill an increasing number of
carriers are offering unlimited texting that won't chew through your data
allowance this also means in some ways sms can be more reliable than other
messaging apps although you need a data connection to use group me or google
hangouts sms only needs a basic cell
connection so if you're in an area with limited service sms may be your only
option for staying in touch other than making an actual phone call
who does that although trying to send photos and videos over mms which is
built on top of the smf standard is slower than other apps it is still a
viable option and since sms works over a standard cell connection it's actually
been around in some form or another since the early 1990s and now we're in
the 20s meaning that it's become very entrenched with around 5 billion users
worldwide it has far far more adoption than even the most popular database
messenger services this wide adoption has also made sms very popular with
businesses so for example think about how they provide short five digit codes
at sporting events to make it easy to report that drunk guy who just won't sit
down or how airlines use sms to quickly send updates on whether your flight is
delayed without you having to download any kind of additional app of course the
fact that sms is a great fallback option for communication doesn't mean that
itself doesn't have serious limitations however there is a movement of foot to
bring sms into the modern age with a protocol called rich communication
services or rcs you can learn more about it up here but basically it's going to
use a data link to provide additional features like faster speeds and read
receipts and notifications when someone else is in the middle of typing kind of
like imessage for Android but supported by individual carriers instead of one
hardware manufacturer however bare bones basic sms will probably be sticking
around for a while as a trusty backup so don't look for it to be going away in
the near future besides you're going to need it if you're one of those people
who's helping flip phones and fanny packs make a comeback
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