Silly SMS Question

[msm0511]

I noticed when I send a text using the stock SMS app that it shows 2 messages if it's over the 160 character count. Does the recipient get it as one text or two? I thought smartphones did away with character counts years ago.

 

[NEXUS_HTC_PS]

I've sent way over that amount and it just converts to mms. Never see it as two and the recipient (my wife) doesn't get it as two. Maybe it's a carrier thing. Mines the Deathstar.

From my fingers to you on the M8, M9 or the Chromebook!

 

[msm0511]

I've sent way over that amount and it just converts to mms. Never see it as two and the recipient (my wife) doesn't get it as two. Maybe it's a carrier thing. Mines the Deathstar.

From my fingers to you on the M8, M9 or the Chromebook!

Mine too. It just shows up as one on my end. Just wondering how the recipient received it. Can't remember getting a long text since I switched to Android.

 

[Almeuit]

If it is over 160 the carrier will split it automatically .. unless it is an MMS.

 

[Habiib]

Mine splits the messages as well. Often times the messages will arrive out of sequence in my experience.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Rukbat]

You can't do "away with character counts" with SMS - the protocol used allows for 140 octets of message, which with the 7 bit characters we use, is 160 characters. It's like putting a gallon of milk into a quart container "because they did away with measuring".

Whether your message gets split or not depends on the settings in your SMS app. (If you tell it to send long messages by MMS, or to not split long messages - which is just two ways of saying the same thing - it won't break them up, it'll send the message as an MMS text file.) Whether the recipient gets a broken message as two messages or one long one depends on the recipient's SMS app. (MMS costs data, and most people have unlimited texting now, so most apps default to breaking the SMS up to save you data.)

 

[neo905]

Does every carrier have a different MMS cap? I tried sending an MMS to someone and it never arrived because my cap is 3.5MB and theirs was only 1MB.

 

[Almeuit]

Does every carrier have a different MMS cap? I tried sending an MMS to someone and it never arrived because my cap is 3.5MB and theirs was only 1MB.

Yes. Each carrier has their own cap for MMS messages. AT&T is 800 MB I believe .. Not sure on the others.

 

[neo905]

Yes. Each carrier has their own cap for MMS messages. AT&T is 800 MB I believe .. Not sure on the others.

You mean 800KB? Interesting, I guess I am lucky my carrier went 3500KB, everyone else I find is much lower than that.

 

[msm0511]

You mean 800KB? Interesting, I guess I am lucky my carrier went 3500KB, everyone else I find is much lower than that.

If you go under the settings in the messaging app the largest size it has is a 300k option. At least on my unlocked M9. I'm not sure if carrier versions have different limits or not.

 

[neo905]

If you go under the settings in the messaging app the largest size it has is a 300k option. At least on my unlocked M9. I'm not sure if carrier versions have different limits or not.

Ya I know. I am just surprised it is so low for most carriers. I was wondering why none of the pictures I was taking with my phone and sending MMS were reaching people. I just assumed everyone had a 3500KB limit.

 

[Almeuit]

You mean 800KB? Interesting, I guess I am lucky my carrier went 3500KB, everyone else I find is much lower than that.

Oh wow LOL. I didn't even notice I put MB .. Yes you're correct I definitely meant KB.

Good catch! .

 

[Almeuit]

If you go under the settings in the messaging app the largest size it has is a 300k option. At least on my unlocked M9. I'm not sure if carrier versions have different limits or not.

We are mainly stating it for the 3rd party apps. There are many that let you up it to things like 2 MB and stuff. Most users will have an issue sending if it is to high since the carrier won't accept it.

 

[fernandezhjr]

If you go under the settings in the messaging app the largest size it has is a 300k option. At least on my unlocked M9. I'm not sure if carrier versions have different limits or not.

The options on my AT&T M9 are 300k, 600k, and 1m. I know AT&T has had a 600k network limit for the longest. I'm hoping they bumped to 1m.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

 

[Almeuit]

The options on my AT&T M9 are 300k, 600k, and 1m. I know AT&T has had a 600k network limit for the longest. I'm hoping they bumped to 1m.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

Ah is it 600? I thought it was 800. My bad .

 

[msm0511]

We are mainly stating it for the 3rd party apps. There are many that let you up it to things like 2 MB and stuff. Most users will have an issue sending if it is to high since the carrier won't accept it.

Ah, ok. On my iPhone 6 I can't remember what the largest setting is. I wanna say it's says something like "send original size". But with iMessage it goes through Apple's servers instead so the limits aren't really dependent on carriers either way. I'd like to find a 3rd party that allows a bigger size. 300k is pretty small.