# Google took away SMS and no longer gets my business **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225 "2014-04-03T03:36:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/21 "2014-04-04T00:59:46Z")
For the technologically impaired: What is SMS, please, and why the outrage? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/22 "2014-04-04T01:04:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > For the technologically impaired: What is SMS, please, and why the outrage? SMS = Short Message Service = that texting thing that all the kids are doing these days. 160(ish) character written messages sent to and/or from mobile phones. The outrage will have to be explained by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/23 "2014-04-04T01:05:49Z")
and how did google have sms - isn’t that something your phone does? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/24 "2014-04-04T02:06:16Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > and how did google have sms - isn’t that something your phone does? There are SMS “gateways” that allow non-phones to send text messages. You can do this via email, a webpage, or Gmail (or, you were once able to…). ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/25 "2014-04-04T02:15:08Z")
It’s very very handy to send text messages to your smartphone friends, composed from your regular computer keyboard rather than a small cell phone keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/26 "2014-04-04T07:34:07Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > There are SMS “gateways” that allow non-phones to send text messages. You can do this via email, a webpage, or Gmail (or, you were once able to…). You can always send a text message from any email system–you don’t need Google’s approval to do so. The receiving telephone’s SMS system can be addressed as though it were an email. You just need to know the domain name which the cellular service provider attaches to the phone number. (So you have to know the cellular company of the receiving party.) What Google has (or maybe used to have) is a system which will keep a log of all your text messages as though they were email “conversations,” which is handy, because even if you lose or change your phone, those texts will be there in the cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/27 "2014-04-04T07:39:53Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > You can always send a text message from any email system–you don’t need Google’s approval to do so. The receiving telephone’s SMS system can be addressed as though it were an email. You just need to know the domain name which the cellular service provider attaches to the phone number. (So you have to know the cellular company of the receiving party.) > > What Google has (or maybe used to have) is a system which will keep a log of all your text messages as though they were email “conversations,” which is handy, because even if you lose or change your phone, those texts will be there in the cloud. Huh. I did not know that, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/28 "2014-04-04T08:13:58Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > You can always send a text message from any email system–you don’t need Google’s approval to do so. The receiving telephone’s SMS system can be addressed as though it were an email. You just need to know the domain name which the cellular service provider attaches to the phone number. (So you have to know the cellular company of the receiving party.) > > What Google has (or maybe used to have) is a system which will keep a log of all your text messages as though they were email “conversations,” which is handy, because even if you lose or change your phone, those texts will be there in the cloud. How would that look? Example, please? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/29 "2014-04-04T15:47:21Z")
> [@saje](#): > > How would that look? Example, please? Here’s how it looks for the 4 major US providers: AT&T: [5555555555@txt.att.net](mailto:5555555555@txt.att.net) Sprint: [5555555555@messaging.sprintpcs.com](mailto:5555555555@messaging.sprintpcs.com) T-Mobile: [5555555555@tmomail.net](mailto:5555555555@tmomail.net) Verizon: [5555555555@vtext.com](mailto:5555555555@vtext.com) But with the number you’re texting in place of all 5’s, obviously. More here: [http://www.emailtextmessages.com/](http://www.emailtextmessages.com/) I just tested my AT&T number from my gmail account and it worked fine. So while it’s slightly less convenient that the previous way you could do SMS through GMail, it’s still possible. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/30 "2014-04-04T15:49:49Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Screenshot from Google Maps, search in its full glory: > [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](http://imgur.com/ixfXEHV.png) The new Google Maps does, however, suck gigantic saggy wrinkled balls. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/31 "2014-04-04T15:58:31Z")
Maybe Google is just messing with **BigT**. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/32 "2014-04-04T17:12:33Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The new Google Maps does, however, suck gigantic saggy wrinkled balls. This is absolutely true. It was fine before, now it’s just frustrating. I’m considering making MapQuest a bookmark again. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/33 "2014-04-08T06:33:28Z")
Sorry for not getting back to this. I kinda forgot I made it. Yeah, I figured out how to do SMS through email again. I’d forgotten about that, since Google did for me. The problem with it is that you have to look up the person’s cell phone provider and then look up the email address for that provider. It’s much less convenient. Plus it doesn’t work properly with iPhones, apparently, as they send back MMS messages which use attachments. So I get a blank email with an attached text file that I have to download and open to read the message. As for what I meant on the other things, I’m referring to the inability to search for nearby locations in Google maps. They say they folded it into regular Google, with you having to type “\ near \,” but it doesn’t work reliably. (For example, I was trying to find the number to this place whose name I forgot, but knew it was nearby this other place. I went to the second place and wanted to search for all stores of that type nearby, but couldn’t.) The Channel search on YouTube refers to the ability to search for videos within a channel. The search box isn’t in the new layout. I have to search all of YouTube for any video. And, yes, I know. I was a bit too upset about it. I’d had a very frustrating day. Thanks for not being too hard on me. The idea that I affected Google stock is definitely LOL-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/34 "2014-04-08T07:27:05Z")
> [@Alma](#): > > Google maps’ “search nearby” feature was gone, but after a lot of complaint they brought it back. It was never gone; they just changed how it was accessed. Now they’re just bringing back the obvious, but redundant link to do the same thing ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/35 "2014-04-08T20:01:41Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > As for what I meant on the other things, I’m referring to the inability to search for nearby locations in Google maps. They say they folded it into regular Google, with you having to type “\ near \,” but it doesn’t work reliably. (For example, I was trying to find the number to this place whose name I forgot, but knew it was nearby this other place. I went to the second place and wanted to search for all stores of that type nearby, but couldn’t.) What? It’ still in google maps. Just use “directions”. Starting point is your reference point and destination can be any vague thing like “hardware stores” that you want to search nearby for. When you hit “get directions” it will offer you a list of hardware stores nearby. It’s not complicated. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/36 "2014-04-08T20:05:26Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > It was never gone; they just changed how it was accessed. Now they’re just bringing back the obvious, but redundant link to do the same thing Again, it didn’t work the same and was less convenient. I tried it, following the directions exactly, and couldn’t get it to work. And, since they did bring it back, meaning they did listen at least once, I guess I can stick with Gmail. Which is good, because Microsoft really needs to update their feature set. You can’t have multiple email folders open at once, for instance. And Yahoo shouldn’t expect every user to have a freaking cell phone and should fix their spam filter. I guess Gmail can get away with removing features because they currently provide more of them than anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/37 "2014-04-08T20:10:35Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > What? It’ still in google maps. Just use “directions”. Starting point is your reference point and destination can be any vague thing like “hardware stores” that you want to search nearby for. When you hit “get directions” it will offer you a list of hardware stores nearby. It’s not complicated. Then why wasn’t that recommended in the ["]Google help thread]([Google Product Forums](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/maps/GqGuGPY9Xfc)[1-25-false) about the topic? My guess is that it didn’t work back then. And, while it may not be complicated, it is weird. I would never have thought to go to directions mode. That isn’t how it worked before, and I wasn’t looking for directions. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/38 "2014-04-08T20:17:43Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > It was never gone; they just changed how it was accessed. Now they’re just bringing back the obvious, but redundant link to do the same thing Actually, it’s the link that’s _less_ obvious that is redundant. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/39 "2014-04-08T20:23:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > They’ve done it. They’ve crossed the line. They removed search from maps, but I was okay. They removed it from YouTube channels. I put up with it. Now I find out they’ve removed SMS from Gmail for the United States. No announcements, no warnings, not even a help guide to explain when you search Google for an explanation. Nothing. > > The only thing keeping me there was my email address, but I guess that’s going to have to go. They aren’t hurting for money. They are a search engine and can easily handle search. They just don’t care about their customers anymore. > > I’m tired of putting up with them. Their service isn’t free. They get to datamine me. They make money off me. Or at least, they used to. > > Oddly enough, it seems I’ll be going back to Yahoo. They still provide SMS, and I still have my old email address there that I can dust off and try to use again. Yip, I’m going back to the very place that Gmail got me to leave. > > Google has decided to suck. Goodbye. What is SMS? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225/40 "2014-04-08T22:32:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Then why wasn’t that recommended in the ["]Google help thread]([Google Product Forums](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/maps/GqGuGPY9Xfc)[1-25-false) about the topic? My guess is that it didn’t work back then. > > And, while it may not be complicated, it is weird. I would never have thought to go to directions mode. That isn’t how it worked before, and I wasn’t looking for directions. I can’t speak for the google help thread, but I do know that it has always worked. I used it that way for a long time even before they changed the interface. I am just as annoyed as you at change for the sake of change, but (and this isn’t about you exactly) I find myself more annoyed at people who panic at change. For example, I’ve seen people on this board freak out about how Windows 8 doesn’t have a control panel or a power button. I’d point out that it still _does_, the two functions are just now in a different place, but nope, these people still insist they don’t exist. Anyway, more importantly, now YOU know how to search nearby using Google Maps. I hope that bit of knowledge makes your life just a little bit easier. 🙂 (I did miss a step, though. When you click to search for directions to “hardware store” it’s going to give you the nearest. _Then_ you click on “did you mean a different “hardware store”?” to get the list of others in the area. It may not be as streamlined for you as the way you’re used to, but it’s the way I always used it even before the change) > [@Melchior](#): > > What is SMS? The tech term for text messaging. SMS = “Short Messaging Service”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-took-away-sms-and-no-longer-gets-my-business/685225.md?page=3)