What Increases The Cost Of SMS Messages
1) The Length of the SMS
An SMS is made up of segments, and each segment is 160 characters long. So if you are sending a lengthy SMS, it will consume multiple segments and thereby drive up your cost.
Please Note:
- While 160 characters form a segment, even using 161 characters counts as 2 segments.
- Character lengths of segments also vary by countries & regions which might be another reason for high SMS cost.
2) Hidden Characters in the SMS Text
If you copy/paste the SMS text body while designing automation, please be aware that, when you copy/paste text from a text editor software like MS Word or Google Docs, sometimes hidden characters get appended in the string. These hidden characters cannot be seen, but they are present in the text.
Example:
A simple phrase "Hey there" was copied from a webpage. Usually, it would be just 1 segment, but it actually contains many hidden characters (empty characters) making this as large as 4 segments.
Here is the link to the calculator: https://twiliodeved.github.io/message-segment-calculator/
You can use this calculator to check the actual number of segments & character length of your SMS text.
While pasting the contents of an SMS into the system's text editor, we recommend using the paste as plain text option instead of simple paste.
3) Emojis and URL Links
Using emojis or URL links will MAJORLY change the text segment. So if you want to use emojis or URL links inside your texts, use the calculator to see how long the segment is.
Here is the link to the calculator: https://twiliodeved.github.io/message-segment-calculator/
You can use this calculator to check the actual number of segments & character length of your SMS text.
This is the most common reason for unexpected high costs while sending SMS. While using emojis is a great way to make your SMS exciting, please be aware of the costs involved. This will help you make an informed decision about how often you choose to use them.
Example
In the example below, some emojis were used that increased the number of segments from 1 to 4.
4) Picture Attachments
Both SMS and MMS carrier fees will apply, which could drive up the cost of each SMS. When you send a picture message with text, you get charged $0.02 for the picture + the usual SMS cost depending upon the length of the text.
For example, if the following text portion of the Picture SMS is 2 segments:
"Hey Shirley, this is Dana from BusinessName, just wanted to let you know that this upcoming Friday, we have a new update for your company, REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/BIZ-xxxxxxxx or text MORE INFO for more info!"
You will be charged $0.0237 x 2 = $0.0474 for the text portion.
If there's an image attached to this message, it will charge at $0.06 / message
So the total cost per message is $0.06 + $0.0474 = $0.1074
5) Carrier Fees
There are additional carrier fees per message that are automatically applied. SMS carrier fees are charges which are applied by the recipient's carrier to the sender (you).
Carrier Fee + SMS charges (charges are the total cost to send an SMS. Some carriers charge fees on long code SMS (messages sent from a 10-digit US/Canada number).
Other carriers only charge fees for SMS sent from a Short code number. Text messages are charged per segment (up to 160 characters, or up to 70 if the message contains one or more Unicode characters (such as emoji or Chinese characters). Please see the carriers fees charts below for more information.
6) International SMS
International SMS usually cost more than sending a text to US / Canada phone numbers from a US / Canada phone number. Please email us for international SMS rates as they are different from US / Canada rates.
The table above contains voice, SMS, MMS pricing for five of the most popular international user locations in the FGF community. The price to make a call, send an SMS, or send an MMS, may vary based on the destination of the call / SMS / MMS.
* Text messages are charged per segment. Learn more about character limits and message segments below. Prices may change from time to time without notice. Contact us at support@fgfunnels.com for pricing details.
SMS Character Limit (Segments)
A single SMS message technically supports up to 160 characters, or up to 70 if the message contains one or more Unicode characters (such as emojis or Chinese characters).
However, modern phones and mobile networks support message concatenation, which enables longer messages to be sent. Messages longer than 160 characters are automatically split into parts (called "segments") and then re-assembled when they are received. Message concatenation allows you to send long SMS messages, but this increases your per-message cost, because SMS are billed per segment.
The 160-character limit is for messages encoded using the GSM-7-character set. Messages not encoded with GSM-7 are limited to 70 characters. For details on how these character limits change on concatenated (multi-segment) messages, see below.
LC Phone's platform supports long messages up to 1600 characters across all Programmable Messaging channels, including SMS. However, for SMS messaging, LC Phone recommends sending messages that are no more than 320 characters to ensure the best deliverability and user experience.
SMS Message Length and Character Encoding
When you send an SMS message containing more than 160 characters, the message is split into smaller messages for transmission. Large messages are split into 153-character "segments" and sent individually, then re-assembled by the recipient’s device. The effective character limit per segment is 153 rather than 160, because a data header must be included with each segment to ensure correct re-assembly.
For example, a 161-character message will be sent as two messages: one with 153 characters and a second with eight characters.
If you include non-GSM-7 characters, such as Chinese script or emojis, in SMS messages, those messages must be sent using the UCS-2 encoding. Messages containing one or more UCS-2 characters can contain up to 70 characters in a single, non-segmented message. UCS-2 messages of more than 70 characters will be split into 67-character segments.
LC Phone bills SMS for every message segment sent. So, for example, if you need to send a message that is 140 characters long and contains only one non-GSM character, you can avoid the cost of a second message segment by removing that UCS-2 character.
Toll-Free multi-segment SMS messages sent to the US or Canada have a total of 152 characters available per segment for GSM-encoded messages and 66 for UCS-2 messages.
Reason Behind SMS Message Length Limits
The Short Messaging Service (SMS) is a standardized communication protocol that enables devices to send and receive brief text messages. It was designed to “fit in between” other signaling protocols, which is why SMS message length is limited to 160 7-bit characters, i.e., 1120 bits, or 140 bytes. SMS was first standardized as part of the 1985 GSM protocol and was subsequently codified into the SMPP signaling protocol that transmits SMS.
But things get tricky because GSM-7, the original character set designed for SMS, can only encompass 128 different characters, thanks to that 7-bit limit. So, if you want to include characters from extended Latin or non-Latin scripts, you’ll need to use UCS-2.
A common mistake is to inadvertently use a UCS-2 character. GSM-7 isn’t a supported character set in many text editors, which may replace GSM-7 compatible characters with characters outside of GSM-7. For example, if your text editor changes " to “ — a ‘curly’ or ‘smart’ quote mark — you will have a UCS-2 character in your message and that will reduce the character limit from 160 to 70.
We recommend that you check any messages that you plan to send frequently using this Message Segment calculator before you send them. This tool can flag any characters that would force the message to be sent using UCS-2 encoding, so you can decide whether to remove those characters and reduce the cost per message.
SMS
SMS stands for Short Message Service and is another name for a text message. An SMS is generally sent from one mobile device to another over the cellular network. SMS is a text-only standard first formalized in 1985 in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standards.
Differences between SMS and MMS
Natively, SMS can't handle pictures, videos, or multimedia attachments. To serve those purposes, in 1999 the MMS standard was ratified. MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service which enables people to send pictures, videos, and attachments over text messaging channels.
Once the multimedia is received by the destination carrier the carrier sends a SMS asking the phone to download the content.