How Communicative Are You?

[Darius Wey]

Pocket PC Thoughts reader, <i>LarDude</i>, made an interesting <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=306051#306051">comment</a> to <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34958">this news post</a> I made a few days ago. So here's the question: if you could only pick one form of electronic communication, which would be your preferred one?<br /><br />Due to the limitations of these polls, it would be great if you could make a brief comment on your current location and profession, and what made you choose the poll option that best fit your preferences. Since the Pocket PC Thoughts community is a diverse one, I'm working on the expectation that the results of this poll will speak for the majority of countries around the world, while also taking age and profession into account. Some of your comments may collude with those in the original thread, but at least now I've got a poll which can tabulate the results! :P

[OSUKid7]

Well, I would chose a phone, or videophone (or better yet, talk to the person ;))...but given these electronic choices, I'd go with IM. I know email is important to people, but I use IM much much much more often than email to actually talk to my friends. Yes, I could use email, but as the name implies, it's just not as fast as IM.

In my mind, email is to traditional mail as instant messaging is to phone calls.

I would rather live without my US Mail than without a telephone, so in this case, I'd rather live without email than instant messaging.

Just a teenager's view though. :mrgreen:

[Jeff Rutledge]

I chose email. I rarely IM and hardly ever SMS.

[webdaemon]

I chose email. We use IM internally at our office because our office is very large and it beats getting up and walking up/down the stairs to ask for something. Sure we could phone, but we're all on the phone all day as it is.

For all other communications with clients, vendors, etc, I prefer email. IM for clients, etc, would be impossible to manage and email is easier to track, archive, and search. Email allows time to find the right answer/response to a client. Some people expect instant repsonses to email as it is. IM would be a nightmare!

I work for a property management company in San Francisco. We manage condominiums and apartment buildings.

[alabij]

This is the weird thing.
I SMS more to europe, about 10 times a day. The love SMS in Europe.
However up here in North America, I e-mail more cause most people here still don't know what SMS is. It seems college kids are getting the hang of it but thats just generation X.

[bnycastro]

SMS is really big here in the Philippines but I prefer IM, prob is GPRS and rates here are not too reliable and cheap respectively so you can't IM with your mobile, I'm online on my PC though whenever it is on. So I voted for IM but actually SMS more I'd say I average 20-30 a day (weekday) and maybe 40-50 a day (on weekends). I use email for international correspondence or work only.

[jlp]

I'm amazed SMS is in 3rd position now and far behind email.

Is it because most European PPCT visitors are asleep now? Heck it's about 6 AM CET*.

I'd have chosen MMS as it allows for more power such as more characters and multimedia content (images, sound).

I wonder why SMS is so unpopular in the US. Would it be because few phones feature SMS?? Or people ar less SMS savvy?

Even my 72 years old mother uses SMS a lot (well 99% with me as I'm all who's left in her close family).

Anyway I chose SMS (MMS) because everybody has a phone nowadays, a lot more than have a computer. And therefore everybody can get and send SMS, even more so en route.

And because the question was not "what's my preferred electronic communication means" but rather "If I had to pick one form of electronic communication, it would be...", that's why I chose SMS (MMS) since it's the most universal one.

*=CET stands for Central Europe Time; well it's rather Western than Central Europe since EU extends well beyond the former Iron Curtain now.

[Darius Wey]

Well, I thought I'd add my comments...

To tell you the truth, I use all three forms copiously. However, I ended up choosing "email".

I use email for a number of reasons. Contacting friends, etc. and it makes as an excellent form of correspondence between the Thoughts team. I use IM for the same reasons, but when I'm looking for a quick reply instead. I tend to use SMS more when I'm out and about, or just can't be bothered getting on the net. However, when it all came down to which one suited my lifestyle more, it ended up being email. I can't always be there to instantly reply to people's messages, and email allows me that time I need when I'm a little busy.

[SteveHoward999]

Most of the time I don't have time to use SMS - it takes SOOOO long to type something simple, and it is impossible to write a long message. But SMS can be great on the go, or if I am in a client office and have a minute or two two send my wife a sickly love note. But it does not cut it for me for business communications, which are the majority of communications I make. Plus it is terribly expensive - several tens of pounds or dollars for one Mb!

Messenger is great for keeping in touch with friends and family - I live in the USA now, but only moved here form England 6 months ago. But for business communication it can also take up too much time if things degenerate into chatty conversation. It works well for urgent communication where you and/or the client/wife/mother need to be doing more than one thing at a time ... it can be a lot less intrusive than a phone call in the right circumstance. And it is free!!! - OK we need to pay for internet access, but to all intents an purposes chat is free.

Email is about perfect for me both for business and private communication. It allows me the time to write a considered response. It allows me the time to choose for myself when I will write or reply to someone. It gives me a clear paper trail when dealing with clients. I can easily converse with several people simultaneously - great for teamwork. It *can* be a very rapid form of communication too - I have had many conversations by email that have tagged back and forth in a matter of minutes - not as fast as Messenger etc, but fast enough when dealing with people hundreds or thousands of miles away. And best of all it is free!

Telephone for me is usually used in one of three cases - the client is new and we need to get to know each other better before email or whatever becomes efficient, a last resort when email has failed to achieve the required outcome, or something I use for emergencies when it is simply impractical to use any other form of communication.

[bigkingfun]

I work from home and I'm on my computer all day. I chose email, primarily because it allows me more freedom in managing my time. I never use SMS, but I do use IM occasionally for personal correspondence. I find IM is an interruption, much like a phone call. If I were to handle most of my communications this way, I would be getting interrupted constantly throughout the day. With email, I can set aside a block of time to deal with it and the rest of the day it doesn't have to interrupt what I'm working on.

[KTamas]

I'm amazed SMS is in 3rd position now and far behind email.

Is it because most European PPCT visitors are asleep now? Heck it's about 6 AM CET*.

I'd have chosen MMS as it allows for more power such as more characters and multimedia content (images, sound).

I wonder why SMS is so unpopular in the US. Would it be because few phones feature SMS?? Or people ar less SMS savvy?

Even my 72 years old mother uses SMS a lot (well 99% with me as I'm all who's left in her close family).

Anyway I chose SMS (MMS) because everybody has a phone nowadays, a lot more than have a computer. And therefore everybody can get and send SMS, even more so en route.

And because the question was not "what's my preferred electronic communication means" but rather "If I had to pick one form of electronic communication, it would be...", that's why I chose SMS (MMS) since it's the most universal one.

*=CET stands for Central Europe Time; well it's rather Western than Central Europe since EU extends well beyond the former Iron Curtain now.
Hehe, it's 7:22 AM here :D
I choose IM: the fasters way of communicating. Then email, and after then SMS. I dont SMS too much coz When i'M home I always IM with my friends, and when i am in the school, we talk IRL :D But SMS is a good thing, i just dont need to use it.

[jimski]

Definitely email. I find phones, and especially cell phones, intrusive. While I carry a cell phone every waking minute I only make calls when I have to and only answer when I feel like it (in other words, I have nothing else to do).

My schedule often has me traveling across the US or keeps me at the office until late evening so a lot of my communicating is done when other are home or asleep. In addition to messages with attachments, I can receive faxes and voice mails through email. All of my associates know that the fastest way to reach me is through email. I respond to messages at night, on weekends and while vacationing, because I can do it at my convenience.

BTW, I am the VP-Corporate Enginering for a POP Display/Packaging firm in the NYC area.

[jlp]

That's what I was warning about: the poll question is about what communication means you would choose if you only had to use one. At least it's how I understand it: just like the question: "If you'd have to go on an island which one book you'd take with you?"

[Darius Wey]

That's what I was warning about: the poll question is about what communication means you would choose if you only had to use one. At least it's how I understand it: just like the question: "If you'd have to go on an island which one book you'd take with you?"

Yes. It's the same concept. I merely wanted to see what people would pick, if they could only pick one. Of course, I also wanted everyone to post a comment on their choice, and comment on their thoughts about the other forms of communication and how they use it.

[ErectionJackson]

Well, the problem with e-mail for me is that is takes too long to get an answer. Only a few people reply instantly, that's not usable for me, I want instant replies :)

IM is a wonderful technique, but people are often offline, so that's not an option for me too.

Everyone carries his cell phone with him and you know that they read your message asap. Typing on a phone keyboard works OK if you are used to it. I can type long messages without any problems. As mentioned above, MMS would be the better option, but that's not in the poll unfortunately. I can't understand why SMS is not popular in the US.

But in the end, all forms of communication are a necessity by know. I would go crazy without any of these options. But no, I'm not an addict ;)

[bjornkeizers]

Email; no doubt about it.

To me, IM's are like cellphones with even more drawbacks. Phones and IM are there for *my* convenience, not so others can bother me whenever they like with their comments about the latest Strongbad flash or what they had for lunch. That's why I never have my phone or IM on, except when I made an appointment with someone to call or IM me at a certain time.

With mail, I can choose when or even if I want to respond to it. Sadly, some people write Emails like they write IMs - short, rude, without a name... so I like to take my time to formulate a proper response. Plus, they don't have to be at their PC to recieve my mail and possibly attachment.

[flooder]

Email is my choice.

I use the other two but they end up being volital forms. I am always going back to old emails to find information that I need. My outlook has 80 MB of info and a 200 MB archive to go with.

[whydidnt]

Email is definitely my choice. The majority of my electronic communication is for professional purposes. I'm not aware of any customers or suppliers I deal with that use or have access to IM. Many of the people I deal with don't have company issues Cell Phones and I would consdier it rude to SMS to their personal phone.

I've used all three mediums, but to be honest I don't get the whole SMS thing. Why don't you just call the person and talk to them? You both have to be distracted and attached to your cell phone anyway.

[Darius Wey]

I've used all three mediums, but to be honest I don't get the whole SMS thing. Why don't you just call the person and talk to them? You both have to be distracted and attached to your cell phone anyway.

One word: Price. SMS is cheaper for the quick message, but from what I've seen, people just SMS back and forth, back and forth, until the "conversation" is over. After all that, a phone call may have been the more economically viable option. :roll:

[Swordsman74]

I voted for email but IM was a very close second. Here's why:

SMS: I simply have no need for it. I think it costs me money to use on my cell plan where the other two do not. At work, my phone doesn't get signal anyway. Even if it did, I couldn't carry a conversation on SMS unless I have at minimum a thumboard (which is usually a +$50 addition to the cost of the device).

IM: The only thing that brought this one down to 2nd place was the lack of interoperability. At work, I can only connect to AIM. So people I want to speak to on Yahoo or MSN are out of luck. Even at home, I refuse to install three different ad-supported messaging programs - and the multimessaging ones like Trillian and Miranda and Gaim just don't seem to cut it for me. Oh - and one last thing about IM - why does only Yahoo have offline messaging? That is such a useful feature - leave somebody a quick note that will pop right up for them when they log on next time, almost like sending them an email.

That leaves me with Email as my first choice. It can be used as almost-real-time messaging, but with offline capabilities (messages sent while I'm out will be waiting for me upon my return). It is UNIVERSAL - I don't care if someone is on Hotmail or Yahoo or FunnyFarts.com - if they have an email address, I can communicate with them. It is by nature already "logged" so I can refer to a previous communication years later if I choose to.

If they could fix the issues I have with IM, it would be my first choice. Here in the US, I don't see SMS becoming as big as IM or email. What I do expect is that more and more phones will come with IM capabilities - that way you can communicate from your phone (just like SMS) but you are using the same service that you use at home and work on your computer. I just think SMS is yet one more protocol of instant messaging - and it's got a long way to go to catch up with IM.

[TopDog]

27 year old Tech Consultant from Norway here... and I chose IM. Why not SMS?

Today we are connected wherever we go. SMS is a great tool to send a message when you need to tell you are 5 minutes late or similar but don't have the time to take a call, or don't want to chit-chat. But for real communication it's to expensive and slow... I like IM more, espesially as more and more cellphones now come with usable IM-clients.

[SteveHoward999]

I can type long messages without any problems.


SMS is limited to what? 128 characters? 256? Whilst that might be a long SMS it is not enough space for the majority of my communication needs.

[Darius Wey]

SMS is limited to what? 128 characters? 256?

160 characters by default. The majority of phones now support extended SMS messages which usually go to 480 characters, but you then incur the costs of three SMS messages.

Whilst that might be a long SMS it is not enough space for the majority of my communication needs.

Indeed. SMS is only intended for quick messaging.

[mmidgley]

email for these reasons:
* rich content (mostly i mean attachments, not icky HTML thick messages)
* can be delayed or back-and-forth conversation (not quite as fast as IM, but works for me on the rare occasion I am reviewing my email at the same time as the other fellow).
* server/carrier independence
m.
Software Engineer
United States

[Vidge]

I work from home and I'm on my computer all day. I chose email, primarily because it allows me more freedom in managing my time. I never use SMS, but I do use IM occasionally for personal correspondence. I find IM is an interruption, much like a phone call. If I were to handle most of my communications this way, I would be getting interrupted constantly throughout the day. With email, I can set aside a block of time to deal with it and the rest of the day it doesn't have to interrupt what I'm working on.

My sentiments exactly.

[amnon]

I chose e-mail, and would choose IM as 2nd.

In order for any method to kill e-mail I think it should answer the following 3 conditions:

1. Standardisation. Skype has great voice quality, MSN Messenger has some unique features, ICQ was first. In order to communicate with all my friends I need more than 1 IM (the multi-standard IMs usually don't cover all features of the originals). With e-mail, I can write on Thunderbird, a friend can write on Outlook and a third on pine (for all that matters). We will still be able to exchange e-mails (although sadly e-mail software vendors introduce their own perks and make e-mail slightly dependent on a specific client...)

2. Message history. I know, MSN Messenger has message history, but not when run from PPC, and other IMs probably have that too, but it is not as embedded in the technology as in e-mail.

3. Portability. Today's big e-mail accounts (even free Hotmail, that used to be 2MB with 20MB if you paid is now 250MB free) mean that one can leave e-mail on the server and view it through web interfaces from anywhere (not only from a specifically configured small set of computers). Sadly, IM, even without message logging can hardly do that, though the web MSN Messenger is a step in the right direction.

4. Off-line use. E-mail is by definition 1 level off line in regard to IM. But in order for IM to be effective, it must have that Off-line fallback, i.e. if I want to send something to someone not on-line at the moment I should be able to, and it will be delivered when he/she is on-line. Skype actually has that capability.

IM has the potential to do to e-mail what it once did to snail-mail, but only if there will be standardization, message history, portability and off-line use capabilities. Then, it will not have intersecting features with e-mail, it will contain all e-mail capabilities and then some...

[Mark Johnson]

I'm amazed SMS is in 3rd position now and far behind email.

I wonder why SMS is so unpopular in the US. Would it be because few phones feature SMS?? Or people ar less SMS savvy?



I never tried SMS until about 6 months ago. As soon as I gave it a shot, I instantly loved it and started using it quite a bit for awhile.

But then I found out that there were a huge number of messages that my recipients didn't get, and I was suprised at how many times I got calls from people saying: "did you get my text" and I hadn't.

Put simply, the usefulness of SMS is not lost on us Americans, but for reasons that defy me, our carriers apparently STILL (in almost 2005!?!?) cannot get delivery reliability anywhere near as high as email.

[Oregon Trail]

Email. I can download to my PPC and reply at my leisure. I have a record of the correspondence. SMS costs more, delivers less. IM is volatile, depends on others being online. If I want that type of conversation I call them. There is a more complete form of communication this way including voice inflections.

[Darius Wey]

But then I found out that there were a huge number of messages that my recipients didn't get, and I was suprised at how many times I got calls from people saying: "did you get my text" and I hadn't.

Put simply, the usefulness of SMS is not lost on us Americans, but for reasons that defy me, our carriers apparently STILL (in almost 2005!?!?) cannot get delivery reliability anywhere near as high as email.

It's a little surprising. When the load is astronomically high, delays occur. Last Christmas, there were millions (and I'm not joking about that figure) of SMS sent around in the one day, and due to the sheer load of messages, some did not get processed and sent until the next day. :(

[CEGiven]

Timing: I can choose when to read and when to reply, including scheduling a reply to be sent at a different time than when the "save" button is clicked. Time managment courses teach you to prioritize your time and do email in blocks in order to be efficient.

Filtering: Not just for spam. I can set up rules to route email to special holding folders. Priority messages get routed to my cell phone for immediate attention.

Attachments: Need I say more?

Services and Agents: Emails can be accepted and generated by robots to automate different processes. E.g., I can send a properly formatted message to an application server and tell it to shut off during a downtime. It will close all its programs for the duration and then restart after the downtime. Many monitoring products exist that use email to send notices of errors and events.

Ubiquity: I a mail client for its power and flexibility. But when I'm travelling (as I was yesterday), all I need is a web connected computer to manage most of my email. In dire straits I can use my cell phone to manage. All three methods access the same email account.

[Dar]

I use E-mail as my clients use e-mail and we share large picture files (Home listings) to communicate homes for sale.

[Pat Logsdon]

I prefer grunting and pointing, personally.
:mrgreen:
After a few tries of getting that to work over the Internets, I generally use email. I don't pick up the phone unless I absolutely have to, I rarely IM, and I never SMS. Bottom line is that I hate being interrupted. If I'm going to communicate, I'd rather do it on my own schedule.

Obviously, this makes my wife want to kill me, as she can't usually get ahold of me to tell me to pick up n at the store on my way home from work. :wink:

[Judgeless]

I could not vote for one standard because I use them all. Picking one will never be an option, they all will be available all the time. I have the Nokia 6820 phone that has IM support with AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ. It has a full SMTP POP3 client for sending and receiving email. And it supports SMS and MMS messaging. If new standards come out over the years I am sure I will use those also. Having to pick one will never happen.

It's a little surprising. When the load is astronomically high, delays occur. Last Christmas, there were millions (and I'm not joking about that figure) of SMS sent around in the one day, and due to the sheer load of messages, some did not get processed and sent until the next day. :(
That does not make sense. The cellular network uses telecom based standards to send data over their backbone. A SMS message is 128 bytes. Here is how many messages can be sent using today’s standards.

T1 = 1.54Mb (192KB)
1,500 messages a second
90,000 messages a minute
5,400,000 message an hour
129,600,000 messages a day

DS3 = 45Mb (5.625MB)
43,945 messages a second
2,636,719 messages a minute
158,203,125 message an hour
3,796,875,000 messages a day (3 trillion messages)

The slowest data interface from the phone to the tower is around 50Kb (6.25KB). The phone can send 48 messages a second to the tower.

[Darius Wey]

That does not make sense. The cellular network uses telecom based standards to send data over their backbone. A SMS message is 128 bytes. Here is how many messages can be sent using today’s standards.

T1 = 1.54Mb (192KB)
1,500 messages a second
90,000 messages a minute
5,400,000 message an hour
129,600,000 messages a day

DS3 = 45Mb (5.625MB)
43,945 messages a second
2,636,719 messages a minute
158,203,125 message an hour
3,796,875,000 messages a day (3 trillion messages)

The slowest data interface from the phone to the tower is around 50Kb (6.25KB). The phone can send 48 messages a second to the tower.

Why it occurred is anyone's guess. Theoretically, you wouldn't expect any lags but I suspect that due to the sheer load, problems started occurring on the "processing" side of things. I don't think "relaying" was ever the problem. I had a friend send me a message on Christmas morning, and I didn't end up receiving it until midday the next day. :(

[dMores]

live in vienna, austria, am 29 years old, multimedia producer.

i choose email.

while i like to sms as well, i'd choose email as the only method of communication since i can email from my phone/pda/laptop/desktop/toaster, so it's pretty much the most powerful solution.
send quick notices, attach 5Mb files, all is possible.

and i can send it 24h a day, so i won't wake anybody up.

TIIT TIIT - TIIT TIIT
(sms sound; anyone here who hasn't been brutally wakened from a romantic adventure with *insertfemalefilmstarofchoice*?)

[axe]

While I said EMAIL as my preferred method of comms, I say that assuming SPAM was not an issue. It used to be my preferred method at home alongside MSN/ICQ, however with so much Spam and it unmanagability, I honestly don't use email at home to speak of. I IM if necessary, but even that has dropped off cos I am cleaning out the spam. Yes I have tools to do it for me, but I have to manage the tools...
I have very seriously thought of deleting/changing my email address, except that some of the bastards have my home Provider's address - not one I give out very often and then only to "reputable" companies :roll:

Work is better cause my filters at work run better and faster. At work don't EVER leave me a voice-mail if you expect me to return it :)

Results: work - Email (almost exclusively)
home - IM, phone. not email.

AXE

[Darius Wey]

While I said EMAIL as my preferred method of comms, I say that assuming SPAM was not an issue. It used to be my preferred method at home alongside MSN/ICQ, however with so much Spam and it unmanagability, I honestly don't use email at home to speak of. I IM if necessary, but even that has dropped off cos I am cleaning out the spam. Yes I have tools to do it for me, but I have to manage the tools...

I share your pain, although spam tools are a lot better than what they used to be a couple of years ago. All my spam gets diverted to my Junk folder so it doesn't flood my inbox. Only once in a while does it bypass everything and stay in my inbox, but all I have to do is "spam-itize" the address, and future emails from the sender(s) go to the Junk folder. It used to get on my nerves, but not anymore. 8)

[jmjstandin]

I've been using email at work since 1982 (OK, that's because I work in a large scientific lab which always had good access to the Internet and its various precursors). In those days I remember being thought a bit strange when I tried to explain to people outside why it was better than fax. Now at work we still use it, much too much perhaps. The funny thing is that almost nobody uses IM or SMS despite their availability. I think this is true in most scientific labs. I suspect that's mainly because it allows you to wait before replying and the sender can't usually see whether you are there at your computer to see his misive or not.

Back in the late 1980s a few of us did use an early form of instant messaging which worked intercontinentally. That was the TELL command on IBM's VM/CMS mainframe systems.