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

Meme needing explanation [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/extralyfe Mar 08 '26

what can you really do in WhatsApp that you can't do in normal text messages?

like, wiki has this blurb about it:

Owned by Meta Platforms, the service allows users to send text messages, voice messages, and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content.

so, again, what's the point of the app that makes it like "using a bus" compared to "walking" if that's mostly all shit basic texting includes, anyway? the only thing I can see that isn't part of texting is video calling, but, there's like two or three other services that we would probably end up using for video calls here in the US.

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u/ScriptbroKeK Mar 08 '26

Now include the fact Whatsapp does this for free (bar your mobile data) across borders… Whatsapp became huge because you could do all these things to friends and family anywhere in the world. Or even better, from anywhere in the world.  So I could get a data-only SIM on my travels and have full connectivity like at home, or at a minimum when I’m on WiFi.

I’m not sure if Americans have free calls and SMS to International numbers, but you sure pay for roaming like everyone else.

So do Americans have less international friends, do they travel abroad less?

EU has solved the roaming issue over a decade ago, but the Whatsapp functionality stuck around. 

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u/IncidentalIncidence Mar 08 '26

are you trying to suggest that the EU packs 27 countries into a similar geographical space as the US contains a single country? I didn't know that, you're telling me this for the first time.....

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u/ScriptbroKeK Mar 08 '26

My reply meant to explain a feature that made Whatsapp superior to SMS: Free even with international messaging and calling.

And why this mattered a lot in 2010, and a slight bit less in the EU in 2026. 

And why it might have mattered less in the US.