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
26286 readers
1713 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
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 !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
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 info@lemmy.world. 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
While it is historically true, carriers cannot charge foreign fees for EU members since some time now. They basically said to the carriers "now you stop being greedy fucks".
Since then the European Union is just one large country phone fees wise. Even non EU member Switzerland is included on the EU plan and Switzerland includes Europe as if it is national call/text.
But it was too late indeed, people were already on WhatsApp to avoid sms.
To the best of my knowledge Switzerland is not included. 0.70€/sms
Yo wtf, these prices are crazy
Welcome to abroad roaming where a minute of calling costs you an arm and a leg.
Don't even think doing roaming in a foreign land. You will be charged two arms.
Can confirm, when I crossed the border from Italy my existing deal was no longer valid so my connection just dropped.
Ah ok, mine have Switzerland and other non EU (but close) countries.
Yeah that was in 2018. But WhatsApp was already by far the most popular messenger by then.
This has been a thing since when?
I found an article stating 06.2017 as a start date for free EU roaming.
With that in mind since when did smartphones became the norm? About 2011/12?
WhatsApp is basically a full replacement of what iMessage does to some degree and what RCS aspires to be. Everyone cam use it, is free and even the older non-tech folks can use it.
Now try moving those older folks to use some other app. You can't even make them to use apps like Telegram or Signal or Threema.
I think they were just pointing out that the roaming fees are a thing of the past, because the previous comment sounded like that's still a thing.
Even with the unified roaming prices, to this day I don't have sms included, but I have 30gb of data.
They can and they do. roaming became free but international calls are still expensive (not as bad as it used to be but still) calling a different country cost me about 20 cents per minute, that's 1 euro for a 5 minute call. unless of course I physically cross the border.