4 ms·

In the UK you can combine several texts together seamlessly so this limit is meaningful only with respect to billing, and most plans provide so many free texts

In the UK you can combine several texts together seamlessly so this limit is meaningful only with respect to billing, and most plans provide so many free texts that it simply isn't something you think about - is that similar in the US?

Qz 16y ago
Yes for modern phones, although I can't say how many free texts is considered enough. If you're not on an unlimited plan and you start texting with someone who is, you can quickly stack up hundreds of texts without realizing it...
- singular 16y ago
  True, and that is of course applicable here in the UK too, however it is rare, in my experience at least, to see people being too concerned about text length. In the past people would be very anal about using 'text speak' i.e. hi m8, how r u? partly to fit into the char limit.
masklinn 16y ago
The feature itself is a feature of GSM and part of the GSM specifications (see lower in the comments thread, I am not sure this also works on CDMA and remember having read it didn't, but can't find the source again. If anybody knows, I'm interested), so it is available at least in GSM networks (AT&T and T-Mobile). On the other hand, I do not believe US operators to be quite as generous as UK (or more generally european) ones when it comes to SMS bundles, though I can be wrong: I at least know that many (most?) US cellphone customers pay not just for outbound but also for inbound text messages. And from checking the Verizon and Orange UK websites (I'd have checked O2 but i can't access their shop from outside the UK): * At Verizon, texts are either 20c each or bundles of $5/250 texts (2c/text) or $20/5000 (0.4c/text), there are apparently unlimited options with the $10 and $20 bundles but they're only between VZ phones within precise coverage areas ("National Enhanced Services and Extended National Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Areas") * At Orange UK, two out of three plan lines (Dolphin and Canary) have unlimited text messaging from the start, Racoon (apparently the one used to talk to your grandparents) and value have limited amounts of texts (an unlimited texts option is available for £5, prices for out-of-plan texts are similar to VZ's). And I believe incoming texts are not double-dipped (only the sender pays, unless it's an international text maybe)
dspillett 16y ago
Be careful to be aware of the limit to that though. IIRC the standard allows up to 255 messages to be concatenated, but devices impose much smaller limits. While this usually manifests as a limit that you can't pass, or if your phone sends a message longer than the receiving phone like it will manifest as a split message, my Android phone switches to sending a multimedia message once what I'm wittering about doesn't fit in three SMS messages. This means it might cost you depending on how your provider charges for MMS messages (in some cases one MMS might be chargeable where several SMSs would come out of a pre-paid/free allowance), and it will cause hassle if the receiving phone (or network) does not handle MMS well (or at all).

Qz 16y ago

Yes for modern phones, although I can't say how many free texts is considered enough. If you're not on an unlimited plan and you start texting with someone who is, you can quickly stack up hundreds of texts without realizing it...

singular 16y ago
True, and that is of course applicable here in the UK too, however it is rare, in my experience at least, to see people being too concerned about text length. In the past people would be very anal about using 'text speak' i.e. hi m8, how r u? partly to fit into the char limit.

masklinn 16y ago

The feature itself is a feature of GSM and part of the GSM specifications (see lower in the comments thread, I am not sure this also works on CDMA and remember having read it didn't, but can't find the source again. If anybody knows, I'm interested), so it is available at least in GSM networks (AT&T and T-Mobile). On the other hand, I do not believe US operators to be quite as generous as UK (or more generally european) ones when it comes to SMS bundles, though I can be wrong: I at least know that many (most?) US cellphone customers pay not just for outbound but also for inbound text messages. And from checking the Verizon and Orange UK websites (I'd have checked O2 but i can't access their shop from outside the UK): * At Verizon, texts are either 20c each or bundles of $5/250 texts (2c/text) or $20/5000 (0.4c/text), there are apparently unlimited options with the $10 and $20 bundles but they're only between VZ phones within precise coverage areas ("National Enhanced Services and Extended National Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Areas") * At Orange UK, two out of three plan lines (Dolphin and Canary) have unlimited text messaging from the start, Racoon (apparently the one used to talk to your grandparents) and value have limited amounts of texts (an unlimited texts option is available for £5, prices for out-of-plan texts are similar to VZ's). And I believe incoming texts are not double-dipped (only the sender pays, unless it's an international text maybe)

dspillett 16y ago

Be careful to be aware of the limit to that though. IIRC the standard allows up to 255 messages to be concatenated, but devices impose much smaller limits. While this usually manifests as a limit that you can't pass, or if your phone sends a message longer than the receiving phone like it will manifest as a split message, my Android phone switches to sending a multimedia message once what I'm wittering about doesn't fit in three SMS messages. This means it might cost you depending on how your provider charges for MMS messages (in some cases one MMS might be chargeable where several SMSs would come out of a pre-paid/free allowance), and it will cause hassle if the receiving phone (or network) does not handle MMS well (or at all).