A Guide to Concatenated SMS Technology and Features

Concatenated SMS technology is a game-changer for businesses and individuals alike. It allows for longer messages to be sent in a single SMS, breaking them up into smaller chunks that can be reassembled by the recipient's phone.

Each chunk, or segment, can be up to 160 characters long, which is the standard length for a single SMS. This means that a single message can be broken up into as many segments as needed to fit the content.

The beauty of concatenated SMS is that it eliminates the need for follow-up messages or multiple SMSes to convey a single idea. It's a more efficient and convenient way to communicate, especially for businesses that need to send longer messages to customers or clients.

In the past, businesses would often have to send multiple SMSes to convey a single message, which could lead to confusion and frustration for the recipient. Concatenated SMS technology has made it possible to send longer messages in a single, coherent unit.

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Concatenated SMS allows you to send and receive text messages that are longer than 160 characters.

If a text message is longer than the standard 160 character limit, more than one text credit will be used to send the message.

The first text in a concatenated message is 160 characters in length, while subsequent texts have a character count of 153.

The missing 7 characters in subsequent texts are used as code to tell the mobile phone to combine the messages and display them as one long text.

With most SMS providers, you don't need to do anything different than you would for sending a message shorter than 160 characters.

SMS concatenation refers to the process of splitting a longer message into smaller parts, sending each part as an individual SMS, and then reassembling them on the recipient’s phone to display as one continuous message.

Each segment in a concatenated SMS is transmitted as a separate message, but they are tagged in a way that allows the recipient's device to know how to piece them back together in the correct order.

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Sending a concatenated message is no different from sending a message shorter than 160 characters. The mobile network splits the text for transmission and combines it back on the receiver’s mobile phone.

The recipient won’t notice anything out of the ordinary has happened.

If you send a concatenated SMS, the SMS provider will recognise that the text is longer than 160 characters and submit the text to the mobile phone network as a long text.

The mobile network will then do the job of splitting the text for transmission and combining back again on the mobile phone.

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Sending a concatenated message is no different from sending a message shorter than 160 characters. The mobile network splits the text for transmission and combines it back on the receiver's mobile phone.

The recipient won't notice anything out of the ordinary has happened. This is because the mobile network handles the concatenation process seamlessly.

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The SMS character limit for concatenated messages is reduced by 7 characters per text. Generally, each segment in a multipart message is limited to 153 characters.

For languages like French or German, the standard protocol for sending messages is the GSM network protocol, allowing for 160 characters per text message. This is in contrast to languages like Mandarin and Arabic, which use the unicode format with a character limit of just 70.

Here's a breakdown of the character limits for concatenated messages:

The User Data Header is a crucial part of a message that ensures it's displayed correctly, even if the segments are received out of order.

A unique reference number is included in the User Data Header, which lets the phone know all the segments belong to the same message.

This reference number is essential for the phone to correctly assemble the message.

The User Data Header also includes the number of segments in the message, which helps the phone determine when all the segments have been received.

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Knowing the number of segments is also helpful in case some segments are missing or damaged.

The segment's position in the overall sequence is another important piece of information included in the User Data Header.

This ensures that the message is displayed in the correct order, even if the segments were received out of order.

By including this metadata, the User Data Header ensures that the recipient's device can still display the message correctly, even if things don't go exactly as planned.

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The character limit for SMS messages is a crucial aspect of message characteristics. Most devices can handle messages up to 160 characters long, which is the standard SMS character limit.

If you need to send longer messages, concatenation is the way to go. This involves splitting the message into multiple parts, each up to 153 characters long, to ensure it's delivered correctly.

The character limit can vary depending on the language used. For languages like English, French, and Spanish, the GSM-7 encoding uses 7 bits per character, allowing for up to 160 characters per message. However, for languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic, Unicode encoding is used, which reduces the character limit to 70 characters per message.

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If you're sending concatenated messages, the character limit is reduced by 7 characters per text, making each segment limited to 153 characters. This is because 7 characters are used for metadata to reassemble the message correctly.

Here's a breakdown of the character limit for concatenated messages:

It's worth noting that while concatenation allows for longer messages, there are still practical limits. Most devices can handle concatenation of up to 6–8 segments, meaning messages longer than 918–1224 characters may be truncated or sent as separate parts that don't reassemble properly.

Message encoding and reassembly are crucial steps in sending concatenated SMS messages.

A standard SMS message is limited to 160 characters, but concatenated messages can be up to 765 characters long, depending on the number of individual messages.

The mobile network splits the text for transmission and combines it back on the receiver's mobile phone, so the recipient won't notice anything out of the ordinary has happened.

Each segment of the message contains a unique reference number, the number of segments in the message, and the segment's position in the overall sequence, which is stored in the User Data Header (UDH).

Here's a breakdown of the maximum character limits for concatenated messages:

The recipient's device uses the UDH data to combine the segments into the correct order, resulting in a single, coherent message as if it were sent as one long SMS.

The User Data Header (UDH) is a crucial piece of information that gets embedded in each segment of the message.

It contains a unique reference number, which ensures that all segments belong to the same message.

The UDH also includes the number of segments in the message and the segment's position in the overall sequence.

This metadata is vital for the recipient's device to display the segments correctly, even if they're received out of order.

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The UDH's unique reference number helps the phone identify all the segments that belong together.

The UDH ensures that the recipient's device can still display the message correctly, even if the segments are received out of order.

Here's a breakdown of the UDH's essential information:

GSM encoding is a standard used for SMS messages, allowing for a specific number of characters to be sent in a single message or concatenated messages.

A single standard SMS message can contain up to 160 characters.

You can send longer messages by breaking them up into concatenated messages, which are then reassembled on the receiver's mobile phone.

The maximum number of characters in a concatenated message depends on the number of individual messages used. Here's a breakdown of the maximum characters per message:

Keep in mind that this is calculated by multiplying 153 by the number of individual concatenated messages.

Reassembly is a crucial part of the message encoding process, ensuring that a long message is delivered to the recipient as a single, coherent message. The recipient's device uses the UDH data to combine the segments into the correct order.

The mobile network splits the text for transmission and combines it back on the receiver's mobile phone, so the recipient won't notice anything out of the ordinary has happened. This is made possible by the UDH data, which contains a unique reference number, the number of segments in the message, and the segment's position in the overall sequence.

Here's a breakdown of how many characters can be sent in a concatenated message:

The UDH data is essential for reassembly, as it ensures that even if the segments are received out of order, the recipient's device can still display them correctly. This is crucial for delivering long messages that exceed the 160-character limit.

Message delivery and reports can be a bit tricky with concatenated SMS. Most mobile networks provide only one delivery report for the entire message, not for each individual segment.

This simplifies the tracking process for both the sender and the network. It's less confusing, and it's easier to keep track of the entire message's status.

Imagine receiving multiple delivery reports for a single message – it could get confusing! Generating individual delivery reports for each segment would consume more network resources and potentially cause delays.

Some carriers might handle delivery reports differently, but the single delivery report is the most common approach. This is because the primary concern is whether the entire message was delivered successfully, not the status of individual parts.

Here's what you can expect from delivery reports for concatenated SMS:

This means you'll receive confirmation when the whole message has been successfully delivered to the recipient's phone, but you won't get separate notifications for each part.

Business Messages and Reminders are a breeze to send with concatenated SMS. Sending a concatenated message is no different from sending a message shorter than 160 characters, and the recipient won't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Businesses can use concatenated SMS to send appointment reminders with a wealth of information in one go. This includes the appointment date and time, the address of the meeting, and a brief outline of the appointment agenda.

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There are several types of business messages, each with its own unique characteristics.

Transaction messages are used to confirm or deny a transaction, such as a payment or delivery.

A transaction message can be sent via email, text message, or phone call, and its purpose is to provide a record of the transaction.

Reminder messages are used to remind customers or clients of upcoming appointments, deadlines, or events.

For example, a reminder message might be sent to a customer to remind them of a scheduled appointment or a deadline for a project submission.

Notification messages are used to inform customers or clients of changes or updates to a product or service.

For instance, a notification message might be sent to customers to inform them of a price change or a new feature update.

Informational messages are used to provide customers or clients with general information about a product or service.

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An example of an informational message might be a welcome email sent to new customers, providing them with information about the product or service and how to use it.

Alert messages are used to alert customers or clients to potential problems or issues.

For example, an alert message might be sent to customers to warn them of a potential outage or disruption to service.

Appointment reminders can be sent to customers via concatenated SMS, providing a wealth of information in one go.

This type of message can include the appointment date and time, the address of the meeting, and a brief outline of the appointment agenda, all in a single text.

Sending appointment reminders via SMS can help reduce no-shows and keep customers informed about upcoming meetings.

By including all the necessary details in a single message, businesses can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on sending multiple follow-up texts.

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In concatenated SMS, character limits and encoding play a crucial role. GSM-7 encoding is used for languages with the standard Latin alphabet, allowing for a maximum of 160 characters per SMS segment.

For languages with characters outside the standard Latin alphabet, like Chinese and Japanese, Unicode encoding is used, reducing the character limit per segment to 70 characters. This is because each character in these languages uses 16 bits of data.

The standard SMS character limit is 160 characters. Not keeping your messages within this limit can incur additional costs, potentially causing delivery issues and resulting in a negative customer experience.

Most devices can handle concatenation of up to 6-8 segments. This means messages longer than 918-1224 characters may be truncated or sent as separate parts that do not reassemble properly.

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We've built a free SMS message length calculator to help you determine how many characters and credits will be used in a concatenated text. Simply copy and paste or type in your message.

Our unicode character detector can also help you identify if any of your messages contain Unicode characters, which will increase the cost of your concatenated messages.

If you're concerned about message length, remember that there's a maximum length of 70 characters for messages containing Unicode characters.

You can use short links like bitly in texts, but keep in mind that they might not work the same as in email.

Concatenated SMS can be a bit tricky to understand, but let's break it down with some examples.

A key consideration when sending long messages is the cost. Carriers typically charge for each individual segment of a concatenated SMS, so a long message that spans three segments would be billed as three separate SMS.

Let's take a look at how SMS concatenation works with a specific example. Imagine you want to send a message that's 159 characters long, and it gets sent as a single SMS. But if you add a bit more, the message gets split into two segments.

Here are the two parts of the split message:

These two parts will be sent as separate SMS messages but will appear as one message on the recipient's phone.