News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money. Parent comment

Re:Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money by Marsymars on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @04:29PM (#17666675)
Because as someone who's willing to pay to not have ads, ads are a non-starter for me. If they're forced upon me, I'll switch products, and force anyone I communicate with to switch products to continue communicating with me. (If an individual won't install Signal, I'll drop down to SMS/email for them.)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money by bad_user on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @04:38PM (#17666759)
In my experience, no, you can’t force alternatives on your friends and family, unless it’s an alternative they already have.

No, they won’t install Signal. If that were a real possibility, you would have done it already. So SMS it is. But I wonder, isn’t SMS more expensive than $1 / year? SMS has had outrageously high rates compared with 3G.

In some parts of the world that’s precisely the reason for WhatsApp’s popularity.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money by randomsearch on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @06:12PM (#17667552)
My non-tech friends can and have and do install signal, I’m pleased to say! It costs nothing, takes them a few minutes, and there’s no downside for them. I use it all the time.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money by Zhenya on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @11:28PM (#17669059)
agreed - I politely ask and if they dont I make my case.

SMS is plaintext - full stop.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money by Marsymars on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @06:45PM (#17667764)
> If that were a real possibility, you would have done it already.

Well, no, because I'm perfectly happy using WhatsApp in its current state.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money by Tharkun on Thursday August 02, 2018 @11:53AM (#17672421)
SMS has been free (or very nearly free) for at least ten years over here. Pretty much any phone plan comes with unlimited messages or something like 10k/month, which most users won't reach.
[ Parent | on HN ]