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[return to "I asked Signal motivations for SMS removal"]
1. apexal+Lb[view] [source] 2022-10-19 09:00:14
>>quenti+(OP)
I think you're forgetting the main reason: the group of people using it to communicate is really small and shrinking every year.

The only large group of people who still primarily use SMS to communicate person-to-person is Android users in the USA.

Every other country has settled on either Telegram, WeChat, WhatsApp or FB Messenger, or other niche apps. These apps work on both iOS and Android and often also Windows. I haven't sent an SMS in probably 12 years. I don't know anyone who has.

It's only in the US that iMessage is so prevalent that Android users have to use SMS, the only other way of messaging iOS devices. And the US is quickly becoming a de-facto iOS only country. It already has more than 50% market share, even 80% among young people.

With the US going (almost) full iMessage and the rest of the world having already settled on another app there simply no point to supporting SMS.

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2. cookie+Ti[view] [source] 2022-10-19 10:01:23
>>apexal+Lb
Don't forget 2FA from shitty European companies! And pizza delivery notifications!

Jokes aside, I see SMS as a useless protocol; because it cannot be used for identification, and neither can anything be encrypted nor verified without another communication channel.

It's also not in the power of the end user to decide whether or not their number gets reassigned, blocked, or does work at all. Most US people seem to think that it's normal to have "one" number for years on end. For the rest of the world, it's not true.

For example: If I don't use my SIM card to make phone calls (which get billed) for 6 months, it's gone and reallocated to a different person.

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3. Semaph+Dj[view] [source] 2022-10-19 10:07:16
>>cookie+Ti
> Most US people seem to think that it's normal to have "one" number for years on end. For the rest of the world, it's not true.

Uh, I’m from Germany and had the same mobile number for over 20 years.

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4. mirolj+Jp[view] [source] 2022-10-19 10:57:44
>>Semaph+Dj
Up to relatively recently (a few years ago) it was not possible to transfer numbers from one provider to another.

Even two years ago, I had to actually change a phone number because I couldn't transfer my number from one provider to their own reseller. O2 Scheißladen.

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5. Semaph+kq[view] [source] 2022-10-19 11:01:49
>>mirolj+Jp
> Up to relatively recently (a few years ago) it was not possible to transfer numbers from one provider to another.

Huh, I guess I got lucky staying with Viag Interkom and then O2 (which was an automatic switch when O2 bought them) for so long, I only really switched providers in 2020 which was long after the EU regulation was in effect.

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6. mirolj+3y[view] [source] 2022-10-19 11:54:27
>>Semaph+kq
Yes, I remember that, although EU regulation was in effect, I still couldn't keep my number when switching from O2 to Tchibo (O2 reseller) because O2 did not allow that "for technical reasons".
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7. Semaph+zZ3[view] [source] 2022-10-20 13:02:01
>>mirolj+3y
I looked it up, the regulation was in effect since about 2006, but there was a loophole: It didn’t trigger if you switched from one provider to the same provider. And I guess that still counts when you switch from a reseller. That part has been changed later.
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