Italy: @BBM v. #WhatsApp – My Experience
Once the decision was made to surprise my mom in Italy I knew that I would need help from my cousin to coordinate things. The choice was to call her or use #WhatsApp which she uses. Reluctantly I opted to install whatsapp. Once installed I decided to test out voice calling since whatsapp doesn’t offer video calling. I called my sister who lives a couple blocks away from me and I was pretty disappointed by the reception. It was pretty poor. We were talking over each other and there was a lot of cutting off. My correspondence with my cousin was all texting while I was here in Montreal.. however I did have to call her when in italy because I couldn’t find a way to get to her house. Reception through whatsapp was horrendous ! Constant and horrible breaking up.. conversation was difficult as we’d step on each other. I realize that some of it has to do with where we were but still… pretty nasty.
Last year my son was in italy for a school trip and we video chatted every day using @BBM.. and it was amazing.. video and voice quality was fantastic.
I honestly can’t understand how and why whatsapp is so popular but it is. It’s sad.. I asked my cousins which messaging was popular in Europe and they confirmed whatsapp and to a lesser extent viber. Even the radio stations in italy advertise that u can reach out to them via whatsapp! #serenitynow
My Random Thoughts 