Very real. I work in remote places where I have to find high ground, stand on my truck, and hold my phone as high as possible just to get SMS in/out. There is no reason to expect there will ever be anymore towers up there, so data or even calls are a no go.

Not at all my experience, the miniscule amount of data needed for a text message goes over the shittiest of internet lines. Yes, SMS sometimes goes over a highly saturated network where data doesn’t because sms just yeets your data instead of establishing a proper connection with a handshake. Though that’s usually very unreliable as well. SMS is also terrible from a privacy perspective, as it is unencrypted and can be spoofed and read by anyone in between, and even read by third parties who just listen in on the wireless transmission. Look where you’re posting. “Cake” pfft