Long Messages

A standard SMS message has a maximum of 160 characters. Longer messages are definitely possible, however please be aware that exceeding 160 characters will constitute a ‘second’ message. The end user will see this as 1 long message on their handset.

When a message is longer than 160 characters, this is referred to as a multi-part message as it contains multiple messages (or multiple-parts). The total SMS limit then becomes 153 characters per ‘part’ as the 7 characters are used up by invisible headers and footers which denote which part of the message is being sent (i.e. Part 1 of 2). For example: If a message is longer than 6 message parts, it will be truncated (see below).

Character Count

A message can be classified as 2 types:

• Standard message – contains characters from the GSM Basic Character Set (see below)
• Unicode message – If a message contains any characters that aren’t in the GSM 03.38 basic character set, the message type will be treated as Unicode. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_03.38).

Standard English Characters:

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