Will Rogers support RCS enhanced Messaging?

[jskrzypczak]

I see that google has finally launched RCS messaging with Sprint in the United States. Is Rogers committed to supporting RCS? Is there a timeline for its rollout?

***Edited Labels***

[Pauly]

sometimes clearing your app cache will enable ithe notification if its been provisioned on your line

[Sushil1011]

Thanks Pauly for detail explanation.

Hi All,

Is there any other advantage of goole messenger (RCS) over regular SMS service? I mean whats difference except send message over wi-fi to RCS enable device.

[Pauly]

you get enhanced messaging features like what apple imessage offers but its available to google android users

[RogersRoland]

Hey Community,

To learn more about the RCS feature, check out this blog by @RogersMaude HERE  🙂

RogersRoland

[JMc58]

Rogers/Samsung are offering the S7 Galaxy for $0, beware as there are issues with the phone, I have the S7 Galaxy, albeit with AT&T, nevertheless, the Enhanced LTE Services and Advanced Messaging features do not function properly or do not work, whether this is an issue in Canada I don't know, ask the question before committing. My text messaging receive feature only works intermittently, meaning when a text is sent to me, I do not receive it immediately, it takes four to five days to receive it and when I do, I receive them all at one time, then after a day or two, the text receive feature shuts down again. I have talked extensively with AT&T and the ICU division about the problems, they finally admitted that the phone has problems. They say they have isolated the issues but it's in the phone, they will replace it at no charge, ... if you go with it, ask for the lastest version to save yourself a lot of grief and a guarantee of no hassles. I can not say if the newer version works correctly, I'm in Canada for another six weeks and will exchange it for the newer version when I get back.

[Meowmix]

Hello @JMc58

You able to show us a source saying this? As my buddy has the S7 edge and has NO issue with texting and neither did i when I had mine ( before getting the iPhone 7 Plus.)

This sounds also like a signal issue with the device getting signal from the carrier it's with. Also the reason why the device is at $0 is because in 3 months the S8 will be released so they usually lower the price due to that.

[Jay_AndroidFan]

Hi guys,

How can I enable RCS on my Rogers Wireless line?

I have a OnePlus 3 running Nougat, with the latest version of Google Messenger installed (it actually came pre-installed on the phone, and has since been updated to "Messages").

However Rogers still thinks I have an LG G4 since that is the last phone I bought through them via HUP.

I am concerned that since Rogers thinks I still have a G4, that they are not enabling RCS on my line.

Thoughts?

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Jay_AndroidFan

Thank you for posting your query in the Community. I heard good reviews of OnePlus 3, hope you are enjoying it. The service, RCS is enabled at our end and it's not account or device specific as long as it is running Android 4.4 or above. 

There is no action you have to take from your side except to enable the Enhanced features. You can find this option in Settings/Advanced. If you don't see the "Enhanced features" option yet, eventually your device will receive the prompt from Google to enable it. The prompt will look similar to the image below;

Thank you for your patience!

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[TheDaryShow]

So, google just pushed an update, the 'Android Messages' messenger update.

I just lost my RCS functionality.  I've been using it for a couple weeks now, it's awesome, love it.

I tried clearching cache, removing app, etc etc, RCS is just... gone.

What gives?

[BS]

@Sushil1011

To your question about what is the benefit of RCS - here is my thoughts.

First, I don't need to talk about what Apple has or doesn't have, I have never been an Apple user, so the feature set of apple is never going to get me to buy it.  Android holds 86% of the world market and Apple has 12% as of Q3, so i don't think that Android is worried about losing customers on these features, but maybe they hope to steal some iOS users with the feature set.

As for the benefits - I use a lot of these feature sets on FB all the time with messenger, and they are in the process of introducing SMS but don't have it nailed down for delivery to via SMS messenging systems.

I did test sending an SMS message to my wife via WIFI and she got it when she had her messenger set to be the messenging app.

We tried the Android Messenger app (the new app available for RCS on play store).  Neither one of us really cared to bother to change our habits around sms and mms to others, but maybe we will switch at some point - not sure, just not interested yet.  I am sure some will like it though.

What are the advantages of the upgrade? Android Messages allows for advanced features such as:

• Typing Indicators  - I could care less about that, and if I use the Facebook app it does the same thing for messenger enabled SMS/MMS when enabled on both phones.
• Deliver Receipts - same thing, don't really care.
• Read Receipts - same again.
• Transit Indicators - same again
• Group Messaging - use FB for this - I hardly use SMS/MMS anymore except when away from WIF locations, as I am still a stubborn non data user on wireless.
• Photo/file/Location Sharing capabilities.  Same thing available from Facebook - since we live on FB messenger for most of our contacts, the whole feature set of RCS, inparticular if FB fully nails it down, I will stay with basic SMS/MMS apps and my FB messenger.  That is how my whole network of people communicate with me, or phone or SMS me, so the limitations right now that it can only be to RCS devices on Rogers network only (yes, it will switch over to SMS over cellular in other cases), leaves me with - why bother.

To each their own - I say the same to WIFI calling and VoLTE - I see benefits for some, but not for me.

Luddite that I am.

Bruce

[BS]

@Sushil1011  Here is an interesting tech opinion piece on the whole RCS question. I would tend to agree - until we get a single standard in place, and Apple has always been proprietory about their own systems, hardware, protocols, basically most things, and have never like to play nice with other products from competitors.  And it has allowed them to have a reasonable market share in most product lines, (the people who love Apple buy it), and everyone else historically goes to the alternatives, like PC versus Apple, or Android versus Apple.

The interesting thing for me (yes, I was always a Blackberry lover) was that the Hub was already fully integrated with all messenging and notifications from apps, and you could do everything you wanted just from there.

Unfortunately, their attempt to put it on Android devices, hasn't gone well, but they have kept it working well on their own Android devices.

The future of messenging remains up in the air and no clear standard in the near future to be seen. When one of them gets Facebook messenging, in there too, they have me sold, and at the moment, Facebook is not far away from making it work, just has the same problem they all have - getting all carriers, and manufacturers on board, but I think they have the best chance given who doesn't have messenger on their device already?

Here is the article - interesting read - http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/04/the-rcs-mirage-advanced-messaging-is-a-mess-in-the-us-and-go...

Me, I am waiting.  As I said, earlier, I don't change easily unless there is really a good reason for it.

And for anyone who may think it, RCS doesn't replace One Number - it doesn't give me the ability to work from my PC and nobody has done that as well as Counterpoint, and I think it will remain an business product, not a consumer add-on, as the backend is what makes it work.

Bruce

[Monkeybone_]

Android Messages background data usage

Ever since Rogers rolled out RCS a few months ago, I've had a serious uptick in data used by Android Messages. I only send maybe 8-10 plain text texts through an average day, but from April 1 to today, the Messages app has used 850MB of data! I have not sent any pictures, and I'm not sending hundreds of texts, why so much data usage? It's all being listed as Background data? it's a texting app!

[RogersMaude]

Good evening @Monkeybone_,

Thank you for your post and Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums!

I can definitely understand your concern regarding the background data usage.

I certainly want to help you get a better understanding of how this works.

Knowing your Android device brand and model, as well as current Operation System, would help me tremendously in guiding you through this.

For Android 7.0 (Nougat), there's no way to set background data ON/OFF of all apps at once.

It necessarely has to be set for every individual app:

1. From your Home screen, tap the app slider, and then open “Settings“.
2. Select “Data usage“.
3. Select “Cellular data usage“.
4. Select the app you want to limit background data on.
5. Toggle  “Background data” to “On” or “Off” as desired.

If your phone is still under Android 6.0 or 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) OS, here is what you should do:

1. From the Home screen, tap the app slider, then open “Settings“.
2. Select “Data usage“.
3. Tap the “Menu” icon located at the upper-right corner.
4. Select “Restrict background data“, then tap “OK” to turn background data off. If already disabled, the option will be different where you can select “Allow background data” to turn background data on.

If you disabled background data, but your background apps are still exchanging data, it is because this setting only applies to the wireless data, not to the Wi-Fi network. You can turn Wi-Fi off while your device is sleeping under “Settings” > “Wi-Fi” > “Menu” > “Advanced” > “Keep Wi-Fi- on during sleep“.

If you feel like you need help managing your data usage, or if you think you need a plan that includes more data, don't hesitate to let us know! 

RogersMaude

[Dx9]

Ok so my buddy lives in the US and if I use Google Messages will I be charged sending a text to the US? I have the Enhanced Features enabled also within the app. It's just that we used iMessage before so there wasn't an issue.

[Dx9]

It's all good anyways. Found out I had unlimited US and International text messaging included in my plan.

[Jay_AndroidFan]

I saw on another forum that some Google employee on Twitter is promoting RCS interconnect between Rogers and Sprint. That's great! Except... I still don't have it!

I've been patiently waiting for RCS to be enabled on my Rogers Wireless line since December... when can I get it? My default SMS program has been "Android Messages" for all this time, so that I can use RCS once I get it.

Here's the tweet in question: https://twitter.com/RealNickFox/status/870284051692658688

[RogersShaun]

Hi @Jay_AndroidFan,

Thanks for reaching out.  

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but at this time, RCS is not supported on OnePlus devices, and there is no word on whether or not they will be supported in the future. 

Kind regards,

RogersShaun

[Pauly]

That is awesome that inter-carrier RCS is actually happening.  A lot of people may not realize this but in addition to my wealth of knowledge about the Cellular Industry, I am also an old timer and have used cellular phones in its infancy. A lot of people may not realize it but back in the early days, you could not even send a text message OUTSIDE the Rogers cellular network, it was only Rogers to Rogers customers. Some of you don't know how lucky you are to have such a flawless text messaging service, just remember that back in the day some of us could not even send a text to a person on Telus or Bell.

[Dx9]

RCS is good. I'm coming from an iPhone so it's much better than regular SMS for sure we had before on Android. Hopefully it gets adopted much more. Only problem is that 80% of my contacts are iOS users and I have 2 buddies with Androids on Rogers that use RCS. So it's nice to see "Sent, delivered, read " etc. Pics come in nice and clear. Hope Telus and Bell adopt at some point.

[jefflessard]

Just to follow, I have no one on Rogers or Fido on Android to test RCS with 😞

[BS]

That is the major issue with RCS at the moment - even in the states, they are not getting a full commitment by all carriers to support the protocol.

The reality, is there is a real race going on right now between android with RCS, Facebook messenger to become the unified integrated app that runs all of our connections to SMS, calling, video calling, and putting all communications into one spot.

Until carriers start stepping up and saying who they will support, we are going to be running into this issue.

I have the same point,  my wife and I have Rogers, while all our children and many relatives are not on Rogers.  And to make things more complicated, one side of my family are pure iPhone users, and it is hard enough getting to agree to set up their iMessages to make SMS available for use, so we often can't communicate to them, and they use Facetime, where as I use FB messenger, so they will say why don't you facetime, because I can't period.

So there is going to be a long lag before this ever gets settled out to a common standard.

As some have mentioned, in the early days, you couldn't text someone on another carrier.

And my last insane problem is do I use on Android, the product version, or the Android version.

Do I use google voice for some things, and even getting my wife to be consistent with me on the functioning of calendaring is a challenge.

So in my case, I just haven't bothered to even think about it, because last thing I need is another mix of messaging into the crazy mix already there.

I recently said to all I know, if you want me, I use FB messenger, don't text me, don't skype me, you can still text me or email me though.  It was just becoming to crazy with all the different modes - it became too much.

I still miss my BB10 OS and the hub, it did it all seamlessly.

Bruce

Bruce