This is my understanding. WhatsApp took off at a time and in places where SMS was expensive. Because WhatsApp used data, they could keep data usage low and allow people to message almost for free.
Wow, after the move to messaging apps pretty much any general phone plan here has free unlimited SMS, the different plans are about the data included. Even the $8NZD ($4.60USD) per month 150MB data plan comes with unlimited SMS.
WhatsApp is free (or was it a low-cost one-time purchase? haven’t used Google Play in a long time), SMS tends to cost money.
This is my understanding. WhatsApp took off at a time and in places where SMS was expensive. Because WhatsApp used data, they could keep data usage low and allow people to message almost for free.
Nevermind past tense, my current phone plan still has me pay for SMS separately (IIRC I get 100 free SMS, after that it’s 9 cent/SMS).
Wow, after the move to messaging apps pretty much any general phone plan here has free unlimited SMS, the different plans are about the data included. Even the $8NZD ($4.60USD) per month 150MB data plan comes with unlimited SMS.