Thread: SMS limitation ?

  1. #1
    Registered User khpuce's Avatar
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    SMS limitation ?

    Ok, this could be a very old issue but I was trying to know why text messages on mobile phones are limited to 160 characters/msg. I did a google search but couldn't find anything specific. The only thing I found out that 160 characters take the same space (space ? perhaps bandwidth is a better word!) of one second of voice call

    Any clues ???

  2. #2
    UT2004 Addict Kleid-0's Avatar
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    Well if you could send more characters, then that means...
    More characters -> more bandwidth -> more money taken from cellphone services -> forced limit by cellphone services.

  3. #3
    Registered User khpuce's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kleid-0
    Well if you could send more characters, then that means...
    More characters -> more bandwidth -> more money taken from cellphone services -> forced limit by cellphone services.
    huh ? So are you saying that its not a technical limitation but limitation set by the mobile phone companies ?

  4. #4
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    i doubt that seeing as the limits are hard coded into the phone

  5. #5
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    Yeah, god forbid the phone companies limit how you use the network that they own so it doesn't cost them more money than they want it to.

  6. #6
    UT2004 Addict Kleid-0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by khpuce
    huh ? So are you saying that its not a technical limitation but limitation set by the mobile phone companies ?
    My bet is that it's a limitation set by the phone companies, because people are sending text messages all of the time, that bandwidth adds up to be quite a lot! And if people are sending 1024kb messages all of the time just because they can, then the phone companies are going to have a hard time getting more bandwidth to substitute for the high rise in bandwidth usage. At the same time the price of sending a single message would probably go up.

  7. #7
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    Here's a point everyone is missing: If you're sending SMS messages more than 160 chars, f-ing call them. It is taking you more time to type all that out than it would to make a 3 second call. SMS is for quick correspondence, not drawn-out conversations.

  8. #8
    The C-er
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    In fact the bandwidth is very low. I recently attended a seminar on comms, the guy said that the total bandwidth for texts for the whole of the UK is less than 64k/sec.

    Some operators allow longer texts, but they're broken into 160 char pieces, and you're charged accordingly.

  9. #9
    Me -=SoKrA=-'s Avatar
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    >Some operators allow longer texts, but they're broken into 160 char pieces, and you're charged accordingly.

    Wouldn't that be the mobile phone?, seeing as how they're split before the leave the phone (I mean, sending two messages seems like the phone does it, then again, maybe not).
    SoKrA-BTS "Judge not the program I made, but the one I've yet to code"
    I say what I say, I mean what I mean.
    IDE: emacs + make + gcc and proud of it.

  10. #10
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    maybe there are nokia(or other company) doc books on their web site

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