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Arapiles Benightment 2-Oct-2010 At 12:35:41 PM voodoo

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On 2/10/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>What mystifies me was that there wasn't more communication (SMS) between the
>rescuers and the rescues about where they were and what the problem was?
>If you can ring Sydney you can send a text.

Having worked in the technical side of telecommunications industry, I'd just like to chime in and say that SMS should never be relied upon as fail-safe in a mission-critical situation.

SMS was developed by the telcos specifically because it has no performance obligations. Unlike a voice call that even the smallest amount of delay rapidly makes it unusable, SMS can be delivered over a timeframe measured in seconds to hours to days.

So yeah, it can be a boon when there's limited service and you need to get a message across - but be aware of its limitations - your message may not be delivered as soon as you think (or sometimes at all).