On Fri, 4 Apr 2025 16:17:56 +0100, Andy Burns wrote :
Frank Slootweg wrote:
Hmm!? I thought RCS used the Internet/IP/<whatever>.
It is, but the internet that RCS uses could be wifi provided by your
home broadband, not 4G provided by your mobile operator
If one's mobile operator is the key player, how about costs/pricing?
It's all "free" provided you have internet connectivity, if you're
paying for that by the byte, it's not quite free.
I thought RCS was 'free' like WhatsApp, but as I said, I know little
about RCS.
Effectively RCS is as free to me, as WhatsApp is to you
Frank's concerns are valid, as are most of the responses to his query.
There are two concepts being discussed, neither of which am I an expert.
One is how RCS/MLS messages are conveyed, and the other is what are valid
privacy reasons for not wanting to use the Google Messages app.
I'm NOT expert on RCS/MLS, but the way I understand they work together is a
handshake *must* be prior negotiated between every sender & receiver.
This prior negotiation (for agreement on keys) is inviolable for RCS/MLS.
Note it doesn't have to happen all the time. Nor does it only happen once.
But that two-way negotiation *must* happen *before* RCS/MLS can be used;
otherwise it falls back to SMS/MLS.
As for Google Messages, the main reason I don't use it is I tested every
SMS/MMS messenger and they all sucked except for two or three of them.
Google Messages was one of the worst at the time, but I haven't touched it
since then because I'm not the biggest fan of Google products anyway.
Having said that, I use Google Voice (on the iPad only!) because it can't
create a Google Account on iOS (but it does create one on Android); the
point being I'll use Google products if and only if they're the best.
But in general, other than Google Voice, there is no Google product that I
can't find a far better (usually open source) alternative to that product.
For me, in the USA, encryption isn't my shtick (since my privacy issues are
about meta data collection & cross correlation - not my conversations).
At the moment, RCS/MLS doesn't even exist, but when it does, it won't buy
me anything I don't already have with WhatsApp for my communication needs.
In summary, since the Google Messages app is one of the worst text apps
I've ever tested and since it doesn't even have RCS/MLS, it buys me nothing
to test it out, particularly if I'm worried about it creating the account.
Hence, my issues are logical (as always); but others make different
calculations in that other people have no idea how atrocious the app is.