> generally included in the plan you pay anyway for data access.
Er, what? The main reason why most of the world moved from SMS to internet-based messaging is because SMS was far more expensive.
> having it for emergencies is nice
In what kind of emergency could SMS be useful?
> just to bootstrap an alternative, secure channel.
But you need to exchange SMS numbers to do that. You might just as well exchange emails, XMPP, or whatever other protocol your going to use later and skip SMS entirely.
Er, what? The main reason why most of the world moved from SMS to internet-based messaging is because SMS was far more expensive.
> having it for emergencies is nice
In what kind of emergency could SMS be useful?
> just to bootstrap an alternative, secure channel.
But you need to exchange SMS numbers to do that. You might just as well exchange emails, XMPP, or whatever other protocol your going to use later and skip SMS entirely.