I have been a glutton for punishment. I have used Skype off and on for years, and every time I use it, it has been a disappointment. Almost everyone that contacted me were scammers, or otherwise insincere people. There is one person which I known for years on Skype, but I rarely communicate with her any longer. This is disappointing as Skype used to be a good service. However, as you can see, my perception of Skype has changed dramatically. I do have Skype installed on my PC, and on my phone. The app on the phone is just to let me know if someone sent me a message. When I reply, it is exclusively on the PC.
So what would I do in the future? Well, once Apple supports RCS, I will give the 3 people that I am connected with on Skype some notice that I would be removing Skype from my devices. If they are still interested in contacting me, it can be through RCS. I will also remove the Skype page from my Contact site. This will mean that I will no longer support Skype. People who wish to communicate with me will have to provide their phone number, as that is the ID of RCS.
Anyone saying their phone does not support Skype will be lying. If someone has Skype on their phone, than that means they have a smartphone. Any phone running Android 5.0, or iOS 18 which supports Skype will also support RCS. Once Apple supports RCS, the only platforms that will not support RCS will be basic phones, and KaiOS phones. In most cases, someone likely has a very low cost Android Phone, and with Android 5 no longer supported due to being obsolete, this means they will support RCS. Once RCS is supported by Apple, it would just use the standard Messages app built into every iPhone. iOS is expected to be rolling out to all supported iPhones in October if history proves anything. This will mean I will likely drop Skype sometime in November.
RCS uses data to send the message. A 500 character message is ½kb. You need 1,000kb for 1MB, and 1,000MB for 1GB. Even someone with a 500MB data plan will have no problem supporting, and using RCS. They will be able to send a large number of messages with minimal impact on data. Obviously media such as files, and pictures will demand more data. I am sure someone watching their data usage will know all about this.