Xenofastiq

DangDave said:

Here is a link that has some history on RCS, but doesn’t tell the whole story:

https://www.magicbell.com/blog/what-is-rcs-messaging

Unfortunately, even though the three major carriers in the US have adopted it for Android phones, they are still trying to monetize it and RCS still only works within each carrier. It appears that each carrier has to partner with Google and I doubt that it is free. This is what I found on AT&T:

• How much does Advanced Messaging cost?

  Standard MMS and SMS rates apply based on your current AT&T rate plan. If you are on a plan that includes an unlimited number of texts, you will not incur any additional charges when you use Advanced Messaging.

  For capped Messaging plans or Pay-Per-Use customers, you will also be billed at your current messaging rates. But please note, if you send a message with multiple attachments with Advanced Messaging, each file you attach as well as your text will be counted and billed as individual messages.

  For example, if you type a text message and attach 2 photos, those would count as 3 separate messages (1 SMS and 2 MMS) for billing purposes. Files can be photos, videos, contacts, calendar items, or anything else you attach to your text message.

This is inaccurate outdated info. Had you actually bothered to properly look into it, you would have realized that the major carriers have already adopted the Universal Profile of RCS which allows for customers to use RCS between carriers. This happened because Google eventually began bypassing carriers through it's Google Messages app. The carriers wanted to handle the messaging, and carriers can decide whether they handle RCS or to pet Google continue doing it. 

Most information that carriers have on "Advanced Messaging" has to do with an RCS standard that wasn't using the Universal Profile, which was years ago.