160 Character Limit on Texts

[ivanpk]

Hi all,
First Android phone and just switched to Verizon.
I was sending a text and it was over 160 characters. I sent it and got a message saying that if I am texting a non Verizon customer they will only get the first 160 characters...
WTF?! I've had an iPhone and a Blackberry on ATT and it would split the message up for me and send a couple if it was over 160. Is there no way to do this on the Droid? Do I seriously have to try and squeeze everything into 160 characters like I did when I had the RAZR?

Thanks
Ivan


EDIT:
Just got this message from Verizon. Apparently they have changed their ways!

FREE_VZW_MSG: Messages sent to non-VZW customers with graphics/tones/formatting and/or 160+ characters are sent as plain text in multiple segments

 

[DGalt]

Download Handcent, it's a better texting app than the stock one. It will split the text for you automatically.

 

[hopla]

Hi all,
First Android phone and just switched to Verizon.
I was sending a text and it was over 160 characters. I sent it and got a message saying that if I am texting a non Verizon customer they will only get the first 160 characters...
WTF?! I've had an iPhone and a Blackberry on ATT and it would split the message up for me and send a couple if it was over 160. Is there no way to do this on the Droid? Do I seriously have to try and squeeze everything into 160 characters like I did when I had the RAZR?

Thanks
Ivan

Well you could use Handcent and in the settings enable it to break up texts longer than 160 characters. If you like the stock app then just type 160 characters then send, then type another 160 then send, then another and another. Shouldn't be too hard.

 

[ivanpk]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just got Handcent and it is working perfectly to what I wanted.

And thanks for the tip of writing the 160char then send, then the other 160, etc. However, I enjoyed typing out the entire message then hitting send, and not worrying about the character limit. I prefer the Handcent approach because I don't want to have to 'downgrade' the way I text because of Verizon!

 

[andrew53517]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just got Handcent and it is working perfectly to what I wanted.

And thanks for the tip of writing the 160char then send, then the other 160, etc. However, I enjoyed typing out the entire message then hitting send, and not worrying about the character limit. I prefer the Handcent approach because I don't want to have to 'downgrade' the way I text because of Verizon!

Handcent is amazing! I had this same problem and it solved everything.. great app!

 

[johnlgalt]

TBH, there is another thread where the virtues (and misfortunes associated with using Handcent have led a lot of people (including me, too, now) to switch to ChompSMS - it is missing one thing, the home screen widget showing you the number of unread SMS you have, as well as a small glitch (after you hit the done key, the keyboard and entry field stay up, forcing you to hit the back softkey to get back to Chomp).

But, it makes up for it in terms of stability, configurability, and, TBH, usability.

 

[GrandMasterB]

ChompSMS for the win!

 

[inssane]

Handcent has the widget
Very nice app and seemless integration as well as a seemingly endless set of things to tweak on the UI.
On another note, just send an email - texts are supposed to be a sentence or two.

 

[ikithme]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just got Handcent and it is working perfectly to what I wanted.

And thanks for the tip of writing the 160char then send, then the other 160, etc. However, I enjoyed typing out the entire message then hitting send, and not worrying about the character limit. I prefer the Handcent approach because I don't want to have to 'downgrade' the way I text because of Verizon!

I love how people think the 160 char limit is because of verizon or whomever carrier they are using...

It's actually a standard... Twitter char max = 160 because you can text in tweets and recieve them by text. Myspace status updates = 160 because you can text in updates and recieve them by text.

Now when texting from verizon to verizon it seems that limit is gone because its handeled by verizon and they know what THEIR max is however when not texting from verizon to verizon they limit it to the standard so they don't have to worry about the other carrier etc.

 

[aimZz]

verizon upgraded? it now says "blah blah blah..160+ characters are sent as plain text in multiple segments" yay.

 

[SinfulDragon]

just add a subject to the txt and it changes it to an MMS and now you have a 1000 Char limit.

Handcent and Chomp seem to screw with my phones ability to stay connected to the network both wirelessly and through the 3G connection causing me to have to restart my phone in order to get it working again.

 

[crankerchick]

there is another thread where the virtues (and misfortunes associated with using Handcent have led a lot of people (including me, too, now) to switch to ChompSMS

Happen to have a link to the thread handy?

 

[ivanpk]

I love how people think the 160 char limit is because of verizon or whomever carrier they are using...

It's actually a standard... Twitter char max = 160 because you can text in tweets and recieve them by text. Myspace status updates = 160 because you can text in updates and recieve them by text.

Now when texting from verizon to verizon it seems that limit is gone because its handeled by verizon and they know what THEIR max is however when not texting from verizon to verizon they limit it to the standard so they don't have to worry about the other carrier etc.

Sorry for the confusion - I knew about the 160 char limit. I did not think Verizon was making this. I liked how with ATT, it would break up your message into as many 160 char messages as it took to send the whole thing, and att to att got the whole message in one. Verizon however only sends the first 160 characters of a message to non-verizon. This is what I was upset about.

 

[baka]

Sorry for the confusion - I knew about the 160 char limit. I did not think Verizon was making this. I liked how with ATT, it would break up your message into as many 160 char messages as it took to send the whole thing, and att to att got the whole message in one. Verizon however only sends the first 160 characters of a message to non-verizon. This is what I was upset about.

per a vzw rep when i first switched a while back (and trust me, i know reps dont always know $#17, but i think this is correct):

the 160 character limit is the limit for all sms. vzw replies automatically to you with an sms notifying you that if you send an sms more than 160 characters, your intended recipient may not receive the message in its entirety or in the way you intended it.

basically, its a disclaimer from vzw saying that if you send a message to, i believe only non vzw, people that is over 160 characters then they're not responsible for whether or not it was delivered.

 

[ivanpk]

Yes, I understand this. Sorry I know you are trying to help. Just trying to clear up confusion about what I was saying.
I know the limit is 160 for all SMS.

The thing is with ATT, I would send a text like this:

'long long long long long ....... over 160 char" and it would be sent like this:

1st message: "long long long" <-- first 160 char.
2nd message "...over 160 char" <--remainder of characters

Meanwhile, with VZW, it only sent the first 160 to my friend. I asked them if they got the full message or multiple messages and they said they only got the first 160 and it cut off. That is what I was upset about!

 

[baka]

Yes, I understand this. Sorry I know you are trying to help. Just trying to clear up confusion about what I was saying.
I know the limit is 160 for all SMS.

The thing is with ATT, I would send a text like this:

'long long long long long ....... over 160 char" and it would be sent like this:

1st message: "long long long" <-- first 160 char.
2nd message "...over 160 char" <--remainder of characters

Meanwhile, with VZW, it only sent the first 160 to my friend. I asked them if they got the full message or multiple messages and they said they only got the first 160 and it cut off. That is what I was upset about!

yuppers. thats what happens. and sometimes, even with ATT, the full message isnt sent or its jumbled to hell. ATT just doesnt give you the notification that vzw does.

one more thing, apparently you cant get vzw to stop spamming you so use handcent.

 

[ivanpk]

Yup. Never had any jumbled messages though.
I use handcent now and it is good. Am checking out chomp as well.

 

[doomedromance]

It's not VZWs fault. It's a limitation built into CDMA. It was intended to be a "hort message service" So don't get angry at Big Red. =) Haha. Get mad at Google. B/C my Motorola Q9m split messages up. It sent 4 at once before, so it sure isn't Moto's fault either. But I use Handcent, I love it. I like how I can change the font, put a background image, change colors, I use Android style though, I don't like the little chat bubbles.

Also AT&T is only 160 too? I could have sworn I could send up to 250 per sms when I was on T-Mobile.

 

[asilver]

handscent plus swype....fuhgettaboutit.

 

[GrandMasterB]

handscent plus swype....fuhgettaboutit.

Chomp minus swype....fuhgettaboutit

 

[droidosis]

Did anyone actually test this and go over 160, I could swear the stock app broke my msg up and sent a barrage of sms's.

And what the other poster said, if you add a subject it becomes an mms and you can txt a book. (Menu, add subject)

-droidosis-

 

[Jake43]

Unfortunately I believe it is a problem with Android. I know on WinMo (My Omnia and Moto Q9) it automatically divided up the message for me. Do other android phones not do this as well?

 

[droidosis]

I sent myself a super long SMS with stock app. It sent it in two messages.

Breaks it up from Verizon to Verizon but someone needs to test another carrier. It was an SMS, not an MMS.

-droidosis-

 

[ivanpk]

I can confirm that Verizon-Verizon will get the full message, but Verizon-other carrier will not.

 

[crankerchick]

winmo did breat it up and i liked that. and even more, in your inbox (prior to threading) and in the conversation (once it got threading), it still showed it as 1 message even though it broke it up and sent it as 2.

one nitpicky thing about handcent for me is sure it breaks up the message for me, but in the conversation window it also shows it as broke up so you have this.

Droid User: long long long....long...and it broke up here
Droid User: and continued here and that's annoying to me

I want to see

Droid Uswer: long long long....long and it broke up here and continued here even though it was still sent as 2 messages.