Have you ever been nostalgic about how SMS, once a sole communication medium among our friends and families, was?! It ruled our entire way of communication and pocket money those days! But at present, SMS is becoming less popular as other applications provide many more services and that too, with zero cost!
This blog discusses the advantages and disadvantages of SMS and how services are improving and adding interesting new features.
Do you know what the first SMS sent was?
The SMS concept was first discussed in 1984 in the GSM co-operation by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebert. And it took eight years to send the first text message. That is, in 1992 'Neil Papworth’ sent the message ‘Merry Christmas’ from the PC to Richard Jarvis’s phone. And thus, the first SMS communication started!
So started the Text message revolution along with the keyboards in mobile. 2007 became the landmark year when SMS became a more popular form of communication than voice calls, per Nielson’s report. Then we could never see the reduction in popularity of message communication.
Has SMS become an obsolete technology?
With the advent of instant messaging applications like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., people believe that the Short Messaging Service or the default text messaging application is becoming obsolete.
Well, in one way, it is right! SMS, with its current technical capabilities, cannot compete with instant messaging applications that provide many convenient or ease-of-use features. Nevertheless, SMS has its indestructible advantage because of which it can never be discontinued!
That is, to send and receive messages to every mobile with SIM irrespective of whether the person installs an application or uses the internet.
Then, did SMS become a tool of last resort? Definitely not; IT solutions enable the features to use SMS seamlessly, just like any other text messaging application.
Disadvantages of text messaging services
Given below are some of the features of text messaging or SMS that are making it outdated and how software services are coming up with solutions:
No Group Conversations
Humans are social beings who like to belong to a community, which is never going to change! And that is why group messaging came into existence. However, using SMS, it is not possible to create different and customized groups and chat with them.
Difficult to Schedule Messages
With SMS, it is cumbersome to schedule messages for future dates. Moreover, there is no option of customizing time for different people when the text is scheduled to be sent to multiple people.
Only on Mobile
In a way, just like any instant messaging application, SMS is a walled garden, too, where the mobiles act as walls. That is, SMS can only be sent or received when you got a mobile, not in any device like a PC!
Automated Messages
With the booming world of automation and IoT, SMS is still at a nascent stage! There are no features that can automatically reply to the received messages or initiate any action when specific notifications are received.
Predictive Analytics
With no usage of analytics, SMS in and itself cannot be used in business applications, and thus, it has been restricted to personal communication.
Mass Texting
Do you need to send texts to thousands and thousands of people? Then using SMS alone is the most daring option!
Speed
Using mobile carriers and transmitting signals from tower to tower hampered communication speed when the texts are sent and received for long distances. Thus, unlike many other communication tools, SMS is slower.
Accuracy and Deliverability
When the receiver's mobile is outside the network areas or switched off, it is also possible that the messages can be lost or forgotten to resend again since the controlling center SMSC is only temporary storage!
Limited Contacts
Though there is no restriction on the number of contacts prescribed by SMS, there is always a restriction on your mobile storage. Thus, SMS becomes cumbersome to use when you need to communicate with a considerable number of contacts.
How Falkon SMS make SMS communication an exciting work?
Though SMS has disadvantages, using Falkon SMS, it is possible to mitigate all of them!
The following table shows the comparison of how Falkon SMS, a landline-texting wizard, can help you enhance the features of SMS and make it a more convenient and interactive texting application:
| SMS | Falkon SMS |
Group Conversation | Groups cannot be created. | Any number of groups can be created. |
Scheduling Messages | Scheduling texts is complex, and customizing it is not possible. | Falkon SMS shall schedule the message for multiple people at different times. |
Communication Platform | It can be used only on mobile. | Can also use PC or any internet-connected device. |
Automated Messages | Not possible. | Automated replies are available. |
Analytics | Not there. | Daily usage analytics is given. |
Mass Texting | SMS cannot text to many numbers at once. | Can text up to 500 people at the same time. |
Speed | Relatively less. | Faster. |
Limited Contacts | Storing contacts are limited to mobile storage. | Unlimited contacts can be stored. |
Deliverability | Message can be lost when the receiver’s phone is switched off or out of network. | Messages are delivered seamlessly. |
Conclusion
So, what are the key takeaways from this blog?
To summarize:
SMS has lesser user convenience features compared to other instant messaging applications.
SMS has the advantage of texting people without using a specific application or the internet. Thus, SMS is always needed in our communication.
Using Falkon SMS, SMS communication can be made more convenient with many exciting features. Want to know how? Just talk to us!
Thanks for reading!