Chatty, what is difference between "New Message" and "New SMS/MMS ..."?

Software Phosh
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I’m brand new to texting and also just getting started with SIP and XMPP.

My following question is in the context of cellular on, wifi off.

In Chatty, tapping “+” in the upper left brings up a menu with:
New Message…
New SMS/MMS Message…
New Group Message… (Grayed out)

What do each of these mean? Why is the last grayed out?

I would particularly like to know what is the difference between the first two.

Thanks for any help on this.

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Interesting.
Maybe “message” means SMS, while “SMS/MMS” really means “MMS?”

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Thanks. That’s a bit confusing.

I just turned cellular off and wifi on and the menu changed, which can be useful if done well, and it seems that is so.

Now the SMS/MMS option is not there at all. If I disable my XMPP account, the “+” icon is not responsive if celluar is still off.

With both cellular and wifi on and signed in to XMPP acount, all three pop-up options are present and active.

Which brings up something else that deserves its own topic. If cellular is on and wifi off, I can not sign in to my XMPP account, even though I can ssh to a remote host. Is it possible my carrier (AweSIM via AT&T) is blocking XMPP?

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I don’t think that would be likely. Wouldn’t that mean they’d be blocking the internet?

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… my “+” is unresponsive, so no menu popup.

I don’t currently have an XMPP account loaded.

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I think they would only have to block certain ports and/or certain domains.

I vaguely recall that some years back some carriers were accused of blocking competitors VOIP.

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I thought you are a JMP.chat user. Maybe I should have written Jabber ID.

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I am a JMP.chat user, but I don’t currently have it loaded on the L5. I’m using a degoogled Android as my main phone.

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I think that would actually qualify as “crime.” For now, at least.

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My understanding … with a traditional SMS, you can only send the message to a single recipient (and that message is sent via the mobile network but not requiring mobile data to be enabled). There are also severe length restrictions (160 characters if character set is ASCII) and effectively no possibility of sending any media type except plain text.

MMS extends SMS functionality in all three areas

  • allows multiple recipients (hence a “group message”)
  • allows much longer messages (but still has some relatively modest limit as configured by your provider)
  • allows a range of media types e.g. most commonly still images (e.g. JPEG) but also potentially short videos and also potentially other types

MMS is sent via the mobile network.

(I guess therefore if you send a plain text message to a single recipient and the length is “about” the maximum allowed for an SMS then the program doesn’t know in advance whether it will be sent as an SMS or sent as an MMS, depending on whether it is under or over the limit, respectively. Hence SMS/MMS. And likewise it may not know in advance whether you are intending to attach e.g. an image.)

Presumably a group message requires a more advanced user interface because you might be sending a message to two or more recipients who are contactable via two or more completely different technologies (e.g. send to one person via MMS and to another person via XMPP).

There are any number of messaging technologies that only require a working internet connection, whether that’s via WiFi or via mobile data. (Hence noting that it is not only important whether the cellular modem is on or off but, if on, important whether mobile data is enabled or disabled.)

I think the only way to get to the bottom of the exact logic that leads to each option being enabled / disabled is to examine the source code. That would then lead to questions as to whether that logic always leads to correct outcomes. :wink:

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The way it seems to work for me, with no XMPP account, is:

  • New Message starts a conversation with a single contact, in which you can send both SMS and MMS messages. (SMS by default, multi-part SMS if necessary for message length and MMS if you add media or possibly if you write a very, very long message.)
  • New SMS/MMS Message starts specifically a group message, though you can create a group that only has one other person in it. The messages to the group are SMS or MMS, the same as with New Message. For me, the group functionality doesn’t work properly and replies that should go to the group tend to end up in individual contact chat threads instead.
  • New Group Message is always an unavailable option (greyed out).
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