patrick.net

What's an MVNO?

Also, there's plenty of devices that use the cellular network exclusively for data transmission. In time, all data transmissions will be IP, most already are now. ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) was (still is!) a good technology for low latency and direct connections, but since we all have high speed internet today, and it's ubiquitous, and we have so much fucking bandwidth, it no longer matters.

ATM has a problem as well in that it's not a general communication system. End to end encryption wouldn't be trivial to setup on it, it is with VOIP. With an internet connection, you can make any crazy fucked up protocol you want.

You may be making a phone call on your cell phone, but that's going through the Internet quite often. It's just too fucking cheap to not use, and it's ubiquitous.

richwicks says

Also, there's plenty of devices that use the cellular network exclusively for data transmission.

Republic Wireless offered cheap cell phone plans by offloading all phone traffic to a WiFi network (when available). It was also ideal for people who lived in cell dead zones. It required using the RW app. Now most of this functionality is built into the Android OS. Unfortunately, MMS texts require purchasing cell data as it utilizes the Wireless Access Protocol (WAP).
An MVNO is a virtual cell phone operator that utilizes a third party's network bandwidth.

EBGuy says

Republic Wireless offered cheap cell phone plans by offloading all phone traffic to a WiFi network (when available). It was also ideal for people who lived in cell dead zones. It required using the RW app. Now most of this functionality is built into the Android OS. Unfortunately, MMS texts require purchasing cell data as it utilizes the Wireless Access Protocol (WAP)

Is MMS the same as SMS?

We should (and will) just move to data transferal. What the data is, will be irrelevant and it will be up to the device to figure out how to deal with the data sent to it. We, however, need a single standard protocol for data transmission. We're still missing that, but it's quite obvious at this point IP is the protocol that will win in time, despite the overhead. There is SIGNIFICANT overhead with IP and there's TCP and UDP built upon that, and there's HTTP and SFTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSH etc build upon that.

I think ATM was a better protocol - low latency, and you could (in theory) build anything on top of it just like IP. IP has a lot of useless junk in it.

https://www.guru99.com/ip-header.html

Just look at all the bullshit? ATM only had 16 bits for connections, but it WAS dependent on a central authority... Perhaps it's best IP won out despite the waste.

richwicks says

Is MMS the same as SMS?

SMS is basically an old fashioned person to person text.
MMS allows for group texts, pictures, and video (multimedia)
Republic just cut over our phones to the new network (ATT's I believe). MMS texts showed up as "download", but never appear unless you purchase cell data.

Let's not get too nostalgic about ATM. Cell overhead was almost 10% (5 bytes out of a 53 byte cell).

try settings > network & internet > mobile or network > send & receive MMS when mobile data is off

the option may only appear when mobile data is off.

Im on net10, using the att network w/ an essential phone (stock android, never carrier locked / never had a carrier specific rom). the pic was sent to me from a tmobile phone. im using the stock android messages app, w/ RCS enabled. With the setting off, I too cannot download the image, but it works with the setting on.

I have no idea how this setting works under the hood for MMS (does it emulate a cell connection somehow? or just fails to respect some carrier MMS artificially imposed limitation designed to make people pay for data?)

I have Republic wireless and the texting just got weird recently.

I’m in Mexico and using WiFi for calling as usual, but text attachments don’t download now, although WhatsApp works fine for attachments as before.

Shit, what are they doing?

I'm still looking for an alternative to TMobile/Sprint, but not optimistic. Mafia runs the FCC just like they run the FDA.

I got Republic because there was no cell signal at two of my friends’ houses in and around Santa Cruz.
I later noticed that it’s good to use internationally if I’m around WiFi.

Patrick says

I'm still looking for an alternative to TMobile/Sprint, but not optimistic. Mafia runs the FCC just like they run the FDA.

Same here will probably stick with t mobile, need my phone for trading and work, plus international calls. I found this at least:

https://www.change.org/p/t-mobile-board-of-directors-stop-the-t-mobile-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-all-employees

Mint has good cheap plans but they run on tmobile. Republic Wireless is useless now that only dish customers get cheap rates.

I ditched Republic because the service they piggyback on was retiring the CDMA network. I was with them since 2014, was paying $10/month plus any data I used up to 0.5 GB. Now I have to buy a new phone and "upgrade" to their latest plans? Fuck them.

I switched to Hello Mobile (still had to buy a new GSM phone). They're also a piggyback service (I believe TMobile/Sprint), but I pay $15/month for unlimited talk & text plus 4 GB 5G (oh no the 5GAIDS!) - taxes included. I even get free international calling. The service is not as good, but I'm not surgically attached to my phone, so who gives a fuck? I'll see how long this ride lasts.

I still had my original 2014 phone. Now it is a brick, except I can use it as a remote control via WiFi for my HT gadgets.

Ain't progress grand?

EBGuy says

Let's not get too nostalgic about ATM. Cell overhead was almost 10% (5 bytes out of a 53 byte cell).

NEVER!

ATM had extremely low latency, and you can't fill up 1500 bytes on an ethernet packet without significant delay, even with μ-law pr a-law encoding. which sucks, but is enough for audio.

TCP (and UDP) have extremely high over-head for low latency audio transmission.

Consider the difference in overhead of analog. You had to scream into the phone in 1960 to talk to somebody on the other side of the nation, and overseas was insane in cost.

We're stuck with TCP and UDP/IP - that's fine. We can afford the overhead today but it's quite wasteful in terms of bandwidth, but, it's entirely democratized. I'd say within 20 years, the idea of a "television" will be gone, and in 50 years the idea of a "phone number" will be gone.

If you're familiar with the birthday problem, I'd like to pick your brain. How many numbers do we need to have which are ENTIRELY randomly generated such that the chances of 1 trillion numbers will have less than a 1 in trillion chance of being the same? I think in the future, when you want "a new number" you'll just pull it out of your ass at random. It will be a large number, but nobody else will have it, at least statistically.

stereotomy says

5G (oh no the 5GAIDS!)

5g is not a problem with the phone if you don't use/transport it too much close to your skin, more with the tower if you live very close to it. Also most likely most already have a 5g router. Most place the router in a common area outside of the bedroom. Wine Country so far has resisted !vaids! and even the 4g connection is slow and spotty. Welcome to country lol

Hat tip to Hircus for leading me down this path of investigating RCS. Rich Communication Services is essentially iMessages for Android and is being implemented by the three main carriers (after some resistance):
Verizon joins T-Mobile and AT&T in using Google Messages for RCS
I know that iMessages from iPhones get bridged to SMS if the receiver is on an Android phone. Not sure if carriers will do the same for RCS (going to a non-RCS receiver).
@clambo, you might try enabling RCS inside of your Google texting app (was definitely thinking of you when I wrote the original post as you're on "international" wifi).

The bigger question I have (and one reason I've resisted enabling RCS) is whether Google can snoop on your text feed...

A couple more things about RCS:
Whereas SMS/MMS requires a data connection to your cellular service, RCS also works over cell networks or Wi-Fi. If you don't have a signal for whatever reason but you can find a wireless network, your message can still go through.
Can anyone using RCS comment if they have successfully used encryption:
As of June 2021, the standard also now brings with it end-to-end encryption for one-to-one chats as well. You should see a small lock symbol next to the Send button in Messages (and a small padlock next to sent messages) confirming this. The feature should be enabled by default if you're chatting with someone using Messages with RCS enabled.
End-to-end encryption is as important here as it is in other apps. It means that no one else—not even Google or your carrier—can see the conversation that's taking place, because only the two devices involved have the necessary keys to decrypt it.

From: A Guide to RCS, and Why It Makes Texting So Much Better

Tello has a $10/month plan that looks interesting. The unlimited talk & text plan includes 1GB of high speed data that throttles to 2G once it's used up (so MMS messages will still go through). It's on the Tmobile network and you can pay monthly.

This message is mostly for @clambo, but also anyone else that is interested. Looks like RCS is now enabled by default in the latest Android messaging client, though they don't mention it by name, under Enable chat features. Anyone else who has an Android phone should be able to receive your RCS messages sent over WiFi.

Just recently my Republic wireless hasn't been working as well in La Paz BCS as last summer.

I'm using Google voice a lot which works fine with WiFi.

clambo says

Just recently my Republic wireless hasn't been working as well in La Paz BCS as last summer.

I'm using Google voice a lot which works fine with WiFi.

Ever since Comcast bought RW, their service has gone to shit.

Not sure how I never saw this thread. I opened an account with them using a phone I bought on Ebay, when Ebay still allowed private purchases. Paid with a prepaid card, so they have no info on who I am. But the prepaid card didn't work after the first month. I tried to get them to resolve it, but they refused, so I just didn't pay. And my phone stayed on.

If you are looking for better reception, try pageplus. They use Verizon towers, so reception is really good in the US. You will pay more, but not as much as Verizon.

Dish bought Republic I think.