Imperial probe droids were equipped with high-frequency HoloNet transceivers for exactly that purpose. Because the HoloNet functioned by routing messages through hyperwave transceivers, not subspace ones, communication over the HoloNet was nearly instantaneous and depended little on the distance between the source and the destination.
~ Jacen
So sorry for the delay, Hawaii kept me much busier than I thought! When it comes to text-like communication, things get a bit confusing. It seems like the HoloNet, the network used to send communications back and forth across the galaxy, could transmit messages between two people in two ways: more of a forum type of thing, or as something akin to an email. (Of course, you can also have a vocal conversation or talk to someone as a hologram, but these aren’t text-based.) The forums work pretty much like ours, so if you ever wanted a group chat sort of thing you could go with that. For text-based HoloNet communications between two individuals, it becomes unclear exactly how it works. We know of one HoloNet service called Imperial.emp in which people had their own contact addresses (Vader’s was rumoured to be vader@imperial.emp, which leads me to believe it was intended to function like email), so I can only assume that this is the closest thing to a texting system that the HoloNet has. I don’t know of a canonical format for either the forums or the individual messages. I also don’t know of any device that has been explicitly said to be able to send and receive text-based messages. Supposedly, anything with a keyboard and the necessary equipment to interface with the HoloNet could do it.
Outside the HoloNet, some planets/sectors/cities had their own communications networks in which people could transmit messages to other individuals. If both your characters are in the same general area, this would be the closest thing to a text message. However, by far the best way to get a message across the galaxy in any reasonable amount of time is by using the HoloNet, so if they’re a great distance apart you will want to stick to HoloNet services. Of course, you don’t have to stick to any of this canon stuff, especially since you will probably be making up your own format either way.
I hope that helps!
~ Jacen
I’m afraid there is some confusion surrounding this subject. Essentially, different comm channels allow one to talk to different people or groups of people. To hear the members of your squadron talking among themselves, for example, you have to have your comm unit set to the right frequency. In a military unit, these channels are encrypted so that the enemy cannot listen in, despite being close enough to pick up the signals; this stops anyone without the proper decryption equipment or information from understanding the communications. During a battle, you generally have communications officers on either side listening for any useful and understandable transmissions, so in order to get the enemy to hear something you want them to hear all you have to do is transmit on an open (unencrypted) frequency. It seems to be that someone can either talk on an open frequency and have people listen passively (like you’re shouting at a crowd with a loudspeaker), or have someone talking back on the other side (like you’re shouting at a crowd on a loudspeaker but another person is shouting back at you). (Continuing the metaphor, talking on an encrypted frequency would then be like you’re shouting at a crowd on a loudspeaker and everyone can hear you, but only your friends can actually understand what you’re saying.) So, if Poe had wanted to, he could have made his transmission and allowed the First Order communications officers to pick it up and relay it to Hux without actually talking to him directly. (But that’s no fun.)
Hope that helps!
~ Jacen
The Empire basically shut down a large portion of the network and restricted and monitored the rest, meaning that people had great difficulty communicating anything the Empire didn’t want them to. From 19 BBY onward, they really didn’t use it for much else except military communications and propaganda, so yes, it definitely was.
~ Jacen
I have not been able to find any mention of it in the guidebooks I own and I can’t recall ever reading about it. However, if anyone owns any of the RP sourcebooks and would like to confirm, it may be mentioned in there. If not, I believe it would be reasonable for it to exist anyway, if you wanted to make something up. Sorry I couldn’t help more!
~ Jacen
In some of the older EU books, like the X-Wing series, it is just called e-mail or mail. There is such a thing as a hololetter, but that uses holographic images so it’s probably not quite what you’re looking for. By and large, communications aren’t really done by text, although plenty of people refer to sending messages without showing us how. The various rebellions throughout the timelines are particularly known for sending messages by word of mouth or by personally delivering datacards with information on them, and never sending transmissions. If you really need a text-based message, your best bet might be to just refer to it as a message and keep it vague.
I hope something here works for you!
~ Jacen
I can’t find any evidence of there being an in-universe equivalent. Perhaps there was no canonical need for it, as most modern communication forms left little room for mishearing a word or letter. If there is a need for it in your story, there’s no reason why you couldn’t just use the real-world one.
~ Jacen
Karen Travis largely used Greek letters in her Republic Commando series to depict the radio alphabet. It helps avoid some of the translation issues between the modern terms (India, Quebec, and Zulu come immediately to mind).
While Star Wars communication tech is far superior in depiction than modern counterparts, the principal use of these codes are to prevent phonetic similarities between the sounds of letters being spoken (c and v, b and p, etc.), as well as combat-induced noise and signal interference from confusing the message. In all, it’s a stylistic choice that likely will add a touch of authenticity if you are trying to write convincing radio dialog, particularly military dialog.
Thank you! In case anyone would like to see this version.
I can’t find any evidence of there being an in-universe equivalent. Perhaps there was no canonical need for it, as most modern communication forms left little room for mishearing a word or letter. If there is a need for it in your story, there’s no reason why you couldn’t just use the real-world one.
~ Jacen
I would assume they’d just use the names of the Aurebesh characters (Aurek, Besh, etc), but that’s just my guess.
Yes, that could work very well. Thanks for the idea!
Sorry to say, there is no such device. Anything sending transmissions that far needs a bigger power source than, say, a comlink. However, you could do a couple things. One, get a regular old comlink message to someone who has access to a subspace or hyperwave transceiver, someone within about 50 klicks of your character. Two, have the character themselves get to a more powerful transmitter, like you would find on a ship or maybe a private building.
It’s also important to note that the Empire shut down large portions of the HoloNet (the network used to carry hyperwave transmissions), causing the Rebellion a lot of trouble when it came to communicating with each other. It also didn’t cover a lot of the Outer Rim, but there were secret channels used by the rebels. Subspace transmissions were not routed through the HoloNet, but they did take significantly longer to reach their destination, and they were easier to intercept. Think about which would work better for your story.
I hope that helps!
~ Jacen
In the same vein, if you have someone using a comlink while on a Star Destroyer, could it somehow piggyback on the Destroyer’s transmitter to get enough power to reach someone on a different planet?
I suppose it could be possible, if they managed to get a feed between the comlink and the Destroyer’s subspace transmitter. They would likely need a direct, physical connection, or at least some sort of tampering with the transmitter itself.
I can’t find any evidence of there being an in-universe equivalent. Perhaps there was no canonical need for it, as most modern communication forms left little room for mishearing a word or letter. If there is a need for it in your story, there’s no reason why you couldn’t just use the real-world one.
~ Jacen
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