SMS DELIVERY INFO

Character Limits

Character Limit

A standard GSM-03.38 text message is 160 characters (1 SMS unit).

A standard non-GSM-03.38 (UCS-2) text message (for example, Unicode characters such as Chinese or Arabic) is 70 characters (1 SMS unit).

If a message exceeds these limits, it is automatically concatenated and billed as multiple SMS units.

  • Messages sent via non-API applications are limited to a maximum of 10 SMS units.
  • Messages sent via APIs are not subject to the 10-unit limit.
  • Charges apply based on the total number of SMS units generated after encoding and concatenation.

Note: If you compose your message in another application (for example, Microsoft Word) and then copy and paste it into a messaging interface or API, hidden formatting or non-GSM characters may cause the message to be encoded as UCS-2. This can reduce the number of characters per SMS unit and increase the total number of SMS units charged.

Concatenation

When concatenation occurs, the first message is reduced to:

  • 153 characters for GSM-03.38 messages
  • 67 characters for UCS-2 messages

The remaining characters are sent as additional SMS units.

This reduction occurs because the concatenation information is stored in the User Data Header (UDH), which consumes part of the available SMS payload.

Charges apply for each SMS unit sent.

Note: The following GSM-03.38 characters cannot be included in your message: ¤ ¡ § |

Extra Information

  • Messaging interfaces display the number of SMS units while you compose your message and require confirmation before sending long messages that incur additional charges.

  • Email2SMS limits sending to 1 SMS unit by default unless a higher limit is configured under the Domains tab. See: Enabling Concatenation in Email2SMS