7.5% of text messages via cellphones delayed or lost
I've begun to increasingly use SMS text messages as a way to communicate with friends on my cellphone. It is a non-obtrusive way of communicating via cellphones (since I hate the sound of cellphones ringing and people yapping on them incessantly next to me in public places).
According to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required), the government in countries like Hong Kong, where people are especially wired, has begun to communicate with subscribers on important issues like SARS scares. However, SMS text messages are just as reliable as cellphone calls. That is, they're not very reliable:
Recent studies give an idea of the scope of problem. A December test by Keynote Systems found that about 7.5% of sent text messages get never reach their destination. Critics of the study pointed out that many messages considered lost may have been just slow to arrive (Keynote considered anything not received in two minutes to be lost), but in the context of a crisis, this matters.