Talk About Tennis 2.0

About WhatsApp: people in the USA simply DO NOT understand the amount of business done over the platform. There is not one single delivery service in Colombia that is not done through WA. People will send you their products' line and menus over it. it is vital to the service sector.
And, actually. The Original comms app was VIBER. it is still around, and it did not crash today. Maybe they will gain some traction again.

Just like I don’t use FB I refuse to use WhatsApp. My mom is in Spain right now and wanted me to use WhatsApp since she won’t have her regular texting. I told her to email me.

I knew about WhatsApp's use in South America and also in developing countries around the world. To hear about it's use in Europe is more surprising. Especially because of the privacy concerns that have been raised in the past.

Maybe this will make it clear that reliance on just one app isn't the best idea. It is just an app, not a utility with some level of regulation that has to meet standards of operation.

Kind of sounds like PayPal in some ways. The over reliance on a non-bank that has zero standards to meet other than what they impose on themselves while controlling a lot of people's money and income has long been disturbing to me and it's been great to see some other companies take away some of their market share.

It is extremely convenient even if you do have a ton of other options. I guess in US you use standard texting, but this is not free. Especially if you do it across borders. I don't use Facebook itself, though.

As for road trips I've done quite a few myself, but I try to plan them in such a way that a day's drive doesn't exceed ca 150 miles. I probably have done 200 occasionally when going home.

I should probably clarify that I don't like being in a car for long hours. Doesn't mean no one around here drives long distances ever. A colleague drove nonstop from here to Sweden few weeks ago and I know some Latvians here who drive once a year to Latvia in just two days (for a family saves money).

Also maybe I was too fast in saying I've never driven 300, perhaps there has been once or twice (long day in Namibia comes to mind). The longest ever probably with my uncle at age 13 from Riga to St Petersburg (ca 600 km).

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:34 am I knew about WhatsApp's use in South America and also in developing countries around the world. To hear about it's use in Europe is more surprising. Especially because of the privacy concerns that have been raised in the past.

Maybe this will make it clear that reliance on just one app isn't the best idea. It is just an app, not a utility with some level of regulation that has to meet standards of operation.

Kind of sounds like PayPal in some ways. The over reliance on a non-bank that has zero standards to meet other than what they impose on themselves while controlling a lot of people's money and income has long been disturbing to me and it's been great to see some other companies take away some of their market share.

I really don't know why WA gained the upper hand, because Viber was very popular and offers the same features. I even think it is better.
But the convenient thing about these apps is that they are worldwide and free. For me, when I used to travel for work, keeping in touch with the family was easy that way. And in the industry is was also easy because if you get WiFi, it makes no difference that you have 5 people from Brasil, 3 from Argie, and 25 different nationalities and phone plans.
Also. European plans are outrageously expensive for phones. So if you just get data, you can communicate right away.
I also read that, for example, fishermen in developing countries use them to contact ports and see where the best prices are. Makes for a more efficient market.

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:16 am It is extremely convenient even if you do have a ton of other options. I guess in US you use standard texting, but this is not free. Especially if you do it across borders. I don't use Facebook itself, though.

It is free here basically. If you have a phone that carries a phone number that you pay for then it's going to come with unlimited text. That's even the case if you have a low-cost plan through a government program. They moved away from limiting the number of texts some time ago.

WhatsApp has long been a way people communicate if you're on vacation in another country, that hasn't changed that much to my knowledge. But I've noticed that WhatsApp became much less of an everyone has and uses it kind of app once unlimited texts were a thing. People also moved away from it more and more as security concerns became headlines. FB is shady AF and with the merger of WhatsApp and FB Messenger on the horizon and the protections they've lessened recently, seems like they are leaning in even more to that.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 4:57 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:16 am It is extremely convenient even if you do have a ton of other options. I guess in US you use standard texting, but this is not free. Especially if you do it across borders. I don't use Facebook itself, though.

It is free here basically. If you have a phone that carries a phone number that you pay for then it's going to come with unlimited text. That's even the case if you have a low-cost plan through a government program. They moved away from limiting the number of texts some time ago.

Is texting for you free also to foreign numbers? If so then I understand that there is no need for Whatsapp.

Another part of the world also weighed in yesterday.

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:56 am I should probably clarify that I don't like being in a car for long hours. Doesn't mean no one around here drives long distances ever. A colleague drove nonstop from here to Sweden few weeks ago and I know some Latvians here who drive once a year to Latvia in just two days (for a family saves money).

Also maybe I was too fast in saying I've never driven 300, perhaps there has been once or twice (long day in Namibia comes to mind). The longest ever probably with my uncle at age 13 from Riga to St Petersburg (ca 600 km).

Wow. Okay, so your longest trip would register as no big deal here I think. That's about the distance of going from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Boston to DC, Chicago to Minneapolis.

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:20 pm

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 4:57 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:16 am It is extremely convenient even if you do have a ton of other options. I guess in US you use standard texting, but this is not free. Especially if you do it across borders. I don't use Facebook itself, though.

It is free here basically. If you have a phone that carries a phone number that you pay for then it's going to come with unlimited text. That's even the case if you have a low-cost plan through a government program. They moved away from limiting the number of texts some time ago.

Is texting for you free also to foreign numbers? If so then I understand that there is no need for Whatsapp.

Depends on the plan you're on I believe outside of Canada and Mexico, which I think are typically included. But most unlimited text plans cover it for a large number of countries. The more bareboned services (not Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) are more likely to charge you extra for something like that.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:49 pm Another part of the world also weighed in yesterday.

The sort of country jockeying was out of control yesterday. I can't tell you how important WhatsApp is to communicate in the Philippines. Well let me tell you we use it to do everything in the DR. Well here in Malaysia, it's the way we healthcare. That's nothing, here in Panama we use it for all the trades, can't get a plumber without WhatsApp. Well, every service uses it here in Ecuador, this is a disaster. Rinse and repeat for whatever country you had a connection to. It was wild to see.

We here can't compete then.

I use it for inconsequential chat with my girlfriend when we're not in the same place (70%), connecting with mom and sister back in Latvia (20%) and arranging meetings, events etc. with friends (10%). Nothing official ever takes place using Whatsapp so I'm not crazy concerned about the security of it.

Oh, in Albania they got to the point they wanted us to exchange documentation via WA. That is where I drew the line. If anything would happen, tracing back the original documentation would be hell.