Thread: Game Over for SMS?

Ah, SMS..... many of you may not know this (a quick Google might help), but SMS actually stands for Short Message Service. Pretty nifty.


SMS is still a very popular and in my opinion, reliable way of communicating with someone. However, since smartphones are so popular these days and data on phones is going trough the roof, services like Bahrain WhatsApp Number List and Ping have popped up.


These services replace SMS, basically. Judging by the App Store description, that's what they aim to do as well. What Bahrain WhatsApp Number List and others like it do, is they allow you to send messages to someone over the internet, using your data connection. Of course, the recipient of your message has to have the application installed on their phone, as well.


So, most of us, at least in my country, have unlimited data plans. Considering Bahrain WhatsApp Number List uses your phone's data connection to send messages, you can send unlimited messages! So, knowing this, will you ever send an SMS again? Most likely not.


A lot of people have smartphones these days, so if you're in luck, and your friends have smartphones with WhatsApp or something similar installed, you'll be able to send messages - basically for free. I think you'll like that idea, won't you? Yeah, me to - don't get me wrong. But.... your carrier might not be as impressed.


Carriers make a ' poo-ton ' of money from SMS. However, they get NOTHING when you sent a message to your friend using something like WhatsApp. You pay, in most cases anyway, a fixed amount of money for your data plan per month. So, basically..... you can send a million messages for the price of whatever you pay for your data plan.

I barely use SMS anymore thanks to messenger but there are cases when I would need it. Hence, I don’t want it gone, ever. I’ll often find myself in areas where there is no internet because of my job and paying for mobile data is impractical. Or sometimes the person I want to reach isn’t connected to the internet like my parents who don’t use mobile data. The SMS is my only hope in such cases.