• I don’t think any providers charge for SMS anymore. Or at least you get enough free ones that nobody ever hits the cap.

        Because everybody uses Whatsapp instead, so it’s not even worth trying to monetize the residual usage. It’s like email, only automated communications use it, so you’re better off only charging government agencies and companies who are the only ones using it.

    • I mean, no, they’ll notice. The messages would appear on a different app.

      But me texting them is not the issue, people don’t remove their text message app. The issue is them wanting to text me, entering my phone number on Whatsapp and having it not be there.

      Never mind that a number of these interactions are using groups and other tools. So no, it’s not an option. You may as well tell people you don’t have a phone or you refuse to interact through anything other than wax-sealed letters. Is it possible? Yes, sure, the post will deliver those. Does it make sense? Not at all.

      People underestimate to what extent Meta apps have supplanted signfiicant chunks of communications infrastructure in many places around the world. For all the crap people give to Musk’s little hostage crisis on Twitter, it’s peanuts compared to Meta’s stranglehold. Americans in particular don’t realize how hard they already won social media.

    • So how do you participate in the work chat with just SMS? Lots of informal collaborations in both my last role and current role needed and needs WhatsApp, with both internal and external stakeholders. I literally cannot do my jobs without WhatsApp.

      Delivery services will contact you on WhatsApp as proof that the delivery was made, disputes are much harder to solve without it.

      Many businesses use WhatsApp as part of their chat support (luckily, not the banks, small wins at least). Talk to a person on the phone? Good luck.

      These are just the examples off the top of my head; I feel like so many here are naive on what it’s like to live in a modern, digital society.