One of the advantages of modern networks is almost instant communication across the globe.
Required knowledge:
1. SMS
Short Message Service (“SMS”) is a method for sending a text-only message from one cellphone to another over the cellular network. The first SMS was sent in 1992. [1]
An SMS was limited to 160 characters. Typing words on a cellphone required some patience: to type the letter a for example required a user to press the 2 button 3 times in quick succession.
As a result of the character limit, as well as the difficulty of typing text on a typical cellphone keypad, people learned to use “SMS language”.
This resulted in common abbreviations that are still in use today, for example, BFF (“Best Friends Forever”), FTW (“For The Win”), IDK (“I Don’t Know”), LOL (“Laugh Out Loud”), YOLO (“You Only Live Once”). [2]
2. MMS
Multi-Media Messaging Service (“MMS”) increased the number of characters and messages text, as well as an image, audio or video. [3]
3. Email
Electronic Mail (“Email” or “E-mail”) comes in one of two flavours: the original disk-based software such as Microsoft Outlook which relied on client-side software communicating with servers, and the more modern approach, browser-based email such as Gmail.
Files sent from an email client (examples: Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird ) are transferred to a mail server (running software such as Microsoft Exchange Server) over the Internet using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”). The emails are stored on the server until they are retrieved by the recipient using the Internet Message Access Protocol (“IMAP”) and Post Office Protocol 3 (“POP3”).
Web-based email solutions such as HoTMaiL and Gmail have all but replaced the above systems. Modern versions of Outlook now offer both disk-based and webmail solutions.
4. IM
Instant Messaging (“IM”) platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram & Messenger have largely replaced SMS, MMS and email for informal communications. Many younger users prefer sending voice notes on IM platforms to making an actual voice call.
5. DM
Most social media platforms have a Direct Message (“DM”) feature. Whilst most interactions on these platforms are intentionally public, DMs allow users to contact each other privately without leaving the interface.
6. VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) is a set of protocols for delivering voice calls using IP networks, for example, the Internet.
“The broader terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the provisioning of voice and other communications services (fax, SMS, voice messaging) over the Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”), also known as plain old telephone service (“POTS”).” [4]
7. Video calling
The ability to make a call that is relayed via the Internet and has both audio and video.
Video calling involves digitally compressing audio and video streams in real-time. The hardware or software that performs the necessary compression is called a codec (coder/decoder). These codecs are capable of extremely high data compression rates. The resulting digital stream of packets is then transmitted through a digital network.
References:
- Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (2024) SMS. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS (Accessed: 18 February 2024).
- Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (2023) SMS language. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language#Whole_word_or_phrase_abbreviation (Accessed: 18 February 2024).
- Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (2024) Multimedia Messaging Service. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service (Accessed: 7 April 2024).
- Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (2024) Voice over IP. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP (Accessed: 21 May 2024).