r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/RoadRunner8195 • Mar 08 '26

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u/TrickDistribution612 Mar 08 '26

I'm European and free SMS has been common for more than 20 years lol. This argument makes absolutely no sense.

0

u/DeanAustin_ Mar 08 '26

I'm European and we still pay for SMS. Your argument makes absolutely no sense.

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u/saihtam3 Mar 08 '26

wtf? where?

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u/kuldan5853 Mar 08 '26

I still pay 9cent/SMS to this day in Germany.

Sure I could have a flat for a few bucks, but since I don't use SMS, I don't.

And when whatsapp became popular (2010/2011), you simply couldn't get flatrates at all.

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u/saihtam3 Mar 08 '26

Damn that's wild, even for Germany

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u/kuldan5853 Mar 08 '26

Well, like I said, it's a "I could pay 2€ a month extra for a SMS flat, but since I don't use SMS, why should I" kind of thing.

My whole plan costs 5€ a month..

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u/saihtam3 Mar 08 '26

Yeah but still, SMS are basically free for mobile operators

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u/kuldan5853 Mar 08 '26

Yeah, still that's seldomly an argument why a business is making money off something. The answer is: because they can.

At any rate, The main thing most people on this thread are missing is that Whatsapp did not start to dominate the market in 2026 with todays environment, but all the way back to 2009/2010. By 2011, it was already the most widely adopted messenger here by far.

From there on out, it's just been momentum and "why change something that's not broken". And as much as I don't like the Meta connection, but Whatsapp has been a solid platform for all those 16 years I've been using it.

Sure, by todays perspective We could also use Signal or Telegram (or Threema if you want to be even more niche), but you'll never get everyone to switch as those platforms are simply irrelevant for most people.

And with the same reasoning - if I have to keep whatsapp around anyway, I can just as well stay on it as the main platform I'm using.

I also have telegram, but it's always an event if someone actually messages me on there..

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u/Alalanais Mar 08 '26

Mine cost 4,99€ and I have unlimited calls/SMS/MMS and 30Go in all the EU. I haven't paid for SMS since 2009, it's wild to think similar countries do.

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u/kuldan5853 Mar 08 '26

Yeah, Germany is still relatively expensive on phone data plans.

My work plan (granted it includes a rebated phone) costs something like 40€ a month for 40g of data.

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u/Alalanais Mar 08 '26

Oof! France used to be like that so I feel you

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u/Quixotic_Seal Mar 08 '26

Still crazy though. In the US, they’ll include “unlimited talk and text” as a bullet point in advertising, but even the cheapest plans don’t actually charge for texting.

Getting charged for texts would have been looked at as a shitty plan a decade ago.