I read about WhatsApp and how people can't part with Meta because of it, however no one on my continent uses it. Why is it so popular in the EU and other parts of the world?
this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2024
234 points (96.4% liked)
Ask Lemmy
26778 readers
1343 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Because txt was free over here before Europe. And people are lazy to switch.
Texts still aren't free in Germany, most of the time, they usually cost around 10 cents each. Sure, you can get free texts for around 2€ a month, but it's an optional add-on to your plan and not worth it for many people. Especially as everyone uses WhatsApp or Signal anyway, which are basically free (pretty much everyone has a data plan, obviously).
That's a really bad argument.
Texts got free (or cheap enough not to matter) way before having data enabled on your phone 24/7 was not too expensive.
Texts are not free in many countries to this day.
That's fucking weird
I’m in my forties so I was around when cell phones first became a thing and you had to T9 type your messages and was in my late twenties when smartphones became a things. The cost is the right answer. It was much cheaper in the states to txt earlier than other places. So the US stuck with SMS longer as that’s what people were used to and it eventually became free while in other parts of the world it did not but data and WiFi became more affordable, so people jumped to IM.
No they didn't, I've had phone plans with enough data to use WhatsApp 24/7 (around 2011 probably) way before unlimited texts (don't know because I haven't used SMS since forever). In fact I remember way back in 2008 using a website from my phone to send SMS instead of sending them from the phone because it was cheaper. Heck, I think I got unlimited data for WhatsApp before I got unlimited texts, and in fact my current plan has unlimited data but only 100 SMS (or something, I don't know because I don't use it).
But the important detail is that I'm not in the US, and this is what you're missing. In the US for some reason SMS became cheaper, in the rest of the world data became cheaper, which is why still to this day we pay for SMS but get unlimited data whereas in the US it's the other way around.
And most importantly SMS can't share all the data WhatsApp and others can. Be it images, videos, locations and similar. Add to that local WIFI which extends life on your data plan and you get more convenience at cheaper prices with extra features. Cell phone network providers really shot themselves in the foot with that one.
I remember the days of the 100 SMS limits and wensites for texting. I had a second SIM card which I could switch to in case I went over the 100 SMS. Then I moved to the US and it was free SMS! WhatsApp was also $1 back then so people who just use the in-built messaging app if they didn’t have anyone residing outside the US. US is still ridiculously expensive for phone and data plans.
That's maybe like that in the US, but not in Germany. To this day we have like 50 % contracts that have unlimited calls, 10ish GB of data and a fixed price of ~9 ct per text.
In Canada, text is free and data is still expensive. I believe the most expensive in the entire world! Yay!