Andy Burns wrote on Mon, 20 May 2024 17:53:12 +0100 :

>> I doubt you will get confirmation from any non-US(/-non-NA?)
>> person that they are sending or receving MMS messages, unless of course
>> they are communicating with US(/NA?) people.
>
> I have sent less than a dozen, ever (too expensive) and received maybe
> double that, none from outside the UK.

I think you people across the Pond actually pay less than we do, in
general, for our cellular services, don't you?

I pay about $30 a month lately for each of four phones in my plan.
<https://i.postimg.cc/nhpbcP50/tmopromo04.jpg>

With that I pretty much get unlimited everything, which is why I didn't
worry about using MMS until the great grandchild was born recently.

At that point, I started getting millions of fuzzy videos from Apple owners
(the new parents are all on Apple products only) which was my introduction
to the MMS problem that you've told me about long ago that RCS may solve.

Here's what an MMS video looks like when sent by the Apple Messages app.
<https://i.postimg.cc/cLBNKJb7/fuzzy.jpg>

Here are those same videos when we completely ditched Apple's Messages app.
<https://i.postimg.cc/QMGrqLb9/clear.jpg>

Just as ditching iTunes on Windows _added_ functionality (i.e., iTunes
removes functionality from Windows the instant that you install it)...
<https://i.postimg.cc/fRtZFGSt/sharepod01.jpg>

Ditching Apple's Messages app instantly _increased_ our functionality.

BTW, Andy, do you have any idea how to work around the problem that arose
when we set up an iPad to use Messages, where the problem was Apple is
incapable of sending the message BOTH to the Android & iPad over Wi-Fi?

Andrew wrote:

> I think you people across the Pond actually pay less than we do, in
> general, for our cellular services, don't you?

Generally it feels like it, I pay for SIM only, so no bundled cost for
handset.

> I pay about $30 a month lately for each of four phones in my plan.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/nhpbcP50/tmopromo04.jpg>

GBP8/month for 20GB data, wifi calling, unlimited SMS, unlimited minutes
to mobiles and "normal" landlines.

> With that I pretty much get unlimited everything, which is why I didn't
> worry about using MMS until the great grandchild was born recently.

we pay about GBP 0.5 per MMS

> BTW, Andy, do you have any idea how to work around the problem that arose
> when we set up an iPad to use Messages, where the problem was Apple is
> incapable of sending the message BOTH to the Android & iPad over Wi-Fi?

No sorry, I have close to zero knowledge of iPads.

Andy Burns wrote on Mon, 20 May 2024 20:18:32 +0100 :

>> I think you people across the Pond actually pay less than we do, in
>> general, for our cellular services, don't you?
>
> Generally it feels like it, I pay for SIM only, so no bundled cost for
> handset.
>
>> I pay about $30 a month lately for each of four phones in my plan.
>> <https://i.postimg.cc/nhpbcP50/tmopromo04.jpg>
>
> GBP8/month for 20GB data, wifi calling, unlimited SMS, unlimited minutes
> to mobiles and "normal" landlines.
>
>> With that I pretty much get unlimited everything, which is why I didn't
>> worry about using MMS until the great grandchild was born recently.
>
> we pay about GBP 0.5 per MMS
>
>> BTW, Andy, do you have any idea how to work around the problem that arose
>> when we set up an iPad to use Messages, where the problem was Apple is
>> incapable of sending the message BOTH to the Android & iPad over Wi-Fi?
>
> No sorry, I have close to zero knowledge of iPads.

Thanks for both responses, where I think you guys across the Pond pay
mostly for what you use, while we pre-pay for packages of everything.

There are pros and cons to each system.
a. We pay through the nose but we don't worry a bit about usage.
The only thing that costs me money is International calling
(which costs, I think, twenty-five cents per minute as I recall)

My kids (who are still on my plan, use about 10GB/month (or so),
and about 5GB/month for hotspotting/tethering, while my wife and
I use only mere megabytes per month, which would easily fit into
your 20GB/highspeeddata/month.

b. You pay about 1/3rd of what we pay, apparently, but when you
start using too much data (in the form of cellular or MMS), then
your bills start to rack up it seems, while our bills is steady.

Your system is about 1/3rd cheaper.
Our system is easier on the worries.

Specifically your system discourages data usage (including MMS); whiule
ours encourage data usage (including MMS). Which is partly why iPhones have
more traction in the US than elsewhere, as the iPhone is a dumb terminal
without connecting to the Internet.

I'm not sure about iPhone traction in the UK & Europe but last I had
checked it was slightly over 1/2 the American phones in use (but since the
iPhone requires the Internet to be useful, it's only going to have traction
in countries which have steady predictable and fast 24/7/365 Internet).

As for the iPad workaround that failed, I think we would have been fine if
the iPad had been registered to an Apple account using a _different_ phone
number than the phone number on Android (it was my wife's old iPad).

It seems Apple has everything rigged to fail the instant you cross
platforms, but if we gave the iPad a bogus phone number for the AppleID
that Messages was signed into, it probably (maybe?) would have worked.

Dunno. I'm waiting for an astute iOS owner (yes, I know) to help me out.

On 2024-05-20 14:05, Andrew wrote:
> Andy Burns wrote on Mon, 20 May 2024 20:18:32 +0100 :
>
>>> I think you people across the Pond actually pay less than we do, in
>>> general, for our cellular services, don't you?
>>
>> Generally it feels like it, I pay for SIM only, so no bundled cost for
>> handset.
>>
>>> I pay about $30 a month lately for each of four phones in my plan.
>>> <https://i.postimg.cc/nhpbcP50/tmopromo04.jpg>
>>
>> GBP8/month for 20GB data, wifi calling, unlimited SMS, unlimited minutes
>> to mobiles and "normal" landlines.
>>
>>> With that I pretty much get unlimited everything, which is why I didn't
>>> worry about using MMS until the great grandchild was born recently.
>>
>> we pay about GBP 0.5 per MMS
>>
>>> BTW, Andy, do you have any idea how to work around the problem that arose
>>> when we set up an iPad to use Messages, where the problem was Apple is
>>> incapable of sending the message BOTH to the Android & iPad over Wi-Fi?
>>
>> No sorry, I have close to zero knowledge of iPads.
>
> Thanks for both responses, where I think you guys across the Pond pay
> mostly for what you use, while we pre-pay for packages of everything.
>
> There are pros and cons to each system.
> a. We pay through the nose but we don't worry a bit about usage.
> The only thing that costs me money is International calling
> (which costs, I think, twenty-five cents per minute as I recall)
>
> My kids (who are still on my plan, use about 10GB/month (or so),
> and about 5GB/month for hotspotting/tethering, while my wife and
> I use only mere megabytes per month, which would easily fit into
> your 20GB/highspeeddata/month.
>
> b. You pay about 1/3rd of what we pay, apparently, but when you
> start using too much data (in the form of cellular or MMS), then
> your bills start to rack up it seems, while our bills is steady.
>
> Your system is about 1/3rd cheaper.
> Our system is easier on the worries.
>
> Specifically your system discourages data usage (including MMS); whiule
> ours encourage data usage (including MMS). Which is partly why iPhones have
> more traction in the US than elsewhere, as the iPhone is a dumb terminal
> without connecting to the Internet.
>
> I'm not sure about iPhone traction in the UK & Europe but last I had
> checked it was slightly over 1/2 the American phones in use (but since the
> iPhone requires the Internet to be useful, it's only going to have traction
> in countries which have steady predictable and fast 24/7/365 Internet).
>
> As for the iPad workaround that failed, I think we would have been fine if
> the iPad had been registered to an Apple account using a _different_ phone
> number than the phone number on Android (it was my wife's old iPad).
>
> It seems Apple has everything rigged to fail the instant you cross
> platforms, but if we gave the iPad a bogus phone number for the AppleID
> that Messages was signed into, it probably (maybe?) would have worked.
>
> Dunno. I'm waiting for an astute iOS owner (yes, I know) to help me out.

Why must you lie, Arlen?