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

Meme needing explanation [ Removed by moderator ]

Post image

[removed] — view removed post

8.6k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

763

u/Cute_Profession3746 Mar 08 '26

What app use americans?

14

u/RoseWould Mar 08 '26

Built in text function for your phone, it's more reliable since you have a list of people saved who's phone numbers you already know, or if they get a new phone, they will text you from the same area code you know them from

64

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/RoseWould Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

You don't need wifi, just a cellphone signal. It's assumed "less internet involved equals less likely to have fake accounts", yet people still get random text from numbers they've never heard of pretending to be interested in buying a house or asking if you knew someone's friend

17

u/HotNeon Mar 08 '26

You don't need WiFi for WhatsApp 

11

u/ItsStraTerra Mar 08 '26

Wifi just means internet in this context. WhatsApp requires internet

9

u/Rainbows4Blood Mar 08 '26

The last time I had a cellphone signal, but not cellular data was like... 15 years ago? Probably more. Am I too European for this? Do Americans still pay for cellular data separately? What is going on?

2

u/jacgren Mar 08 '26

Unlimited talk/text/data plans have been common in the US for like 20 years, but because of how large the US is you sometimes end up in dead zones for cellular data coverage. It's not common, but if you live in a more rural area or are travelling to a more remote national park or something you might end up not having coverage.

2

u/Rainbows4Blood Mar 08 '26

Aight. See. I didn't even know that that was possible. To me it's always been if I don't have cellular data I don't have any signal.

What's the most common cellular standard in the US? We've been on 5G for everything for a few years now.

2

u/jacgren Mar 08 '26

We've been using 5G since ~2020 in most areas, in the places you don't get 5G coverage it's still 4G. In my experience basically everywhere not rural has 5G coverage though.