150 character SMS limit

[EnthusOcn]

I've recently gotten my Andriod phone (on Telus) and have been texting my friends. My phone cuts up text messages to 160 character messages and sends them all to my friends.

However, when my friends receive them the 160 character message gets cut in to one 150 and one 10 character message, often splitting up words. So 4 160 character messages are received by their Blackberries (several models) or Samsung (Slyde?) phones as 4 150 character messages and 4 10 character messages.

Is there an app that lets you sent 150 or even 140 character messages? Handcent doesn't help with all the split options it has. I tried them all, but it splits at 160 so it doesn't matter.

Is there any way to split messages at a lower character count?

(All my friends also use Telus (and Kobo which is Telus). Does Telus have a 150 limit? Or is it their phones? I receive messages from them just fine, but that's probably because their phones only send 140 or 150 character messages.)

 

[sitlet]

the text message limit is enforced by each individual carrier. there's no way to change that. i'm not sure if there is an app to divide the messages on your phone, but im sure the market will have something.

 

[mrw5641]

what i was always wondering is , how do you know if the person recieved your message? ( besides having a message sent back to you using carrier service)

 

[nytroman]

I've recently gotten my Andriod phone (on Telus) and have been texting my friends. My phone cuts up text messages to 160 character messages and sends them all to my friends.

However, when my friends receive them the 160 character message gets cut in to one 150 and one 10 character message, often splitting up words. So 4 160 character messages are received by their Blackberries (several models) or Samsung (Slyde?) phones as 4 150 character messages and 4 10 character messages.

Is there an app that lets you sent 150 or even 140 character messages? Handcent doesn't help with all the split options it has. I tried them all, but it splits at 160 so it doesn't matter.

Is there any way to split messages at a lower character count?

(All my friends also use Telus (and Kobo which is Telus). Does Telus have a 150 limit? Or is it their phones? I receive messages from them just fine, but that's probably because their phones only send 140 or 150 character messages.)

make sure you don't have a "signature" i know that takes up characters

 

[wmm]

How do you tell how many characters you have entered in a text message? On Windows Mobile there's a character counter prominently displayed that counts down for each character you type, and it won't let you type more than will fit into a message. I don't see a counter (or even a way to ask for the number of characters so far) in the stock messaging app. Do any of the replacements have that feature?

 

[Szadzik]

How do you tell how many characters you have entered in a text message? On Windows Mobile there's a character counter prominently displayed that counts down for each character you type, and it won't let you type more than will fit into a message. I don't see a counter (or even a way to ask for the number of characters so far) in the stock messaging app. Do any of the replacements have that feature?

When you get close to the 160 character limit it will start counting down. Then if you keep typing and type until you reach the end of 2 texts it will show you that too.

 

[Rick620]

Verizon has a 160 character limit. hancent SMS sends message mms automatically if over 160. not sure if this helps. ..

 

[wmm]

When you get close to the 160 character limit it will start counting down. Then if you keep typing and type until you reach the end of 2 texts it will show you that too.

Ah, so it does. I don't send all that many text messages, and I guess I was sufficiently paranoid about running over (since I couldn't see the current count) that I never got near enough to the limit to see that display. It didn't occur to me that it would be unfriendly enough to tell me only right at the very end instead of early enough that I could plan how to structure the message.

Thanks for your help.

 

[EnthusOcn]

the text message limit is enforced by each individual carrier. there's no way to change that. i'm not sure if there is an app to divide the messages on your phone, but im sure the market will have something.

I haven't found anything that specifies that you can cut them to different lengths. Thanks anyway, everyone.

 

[malfunction]

SMS as per the MoU takes only 140 bytes (160 characters of 7-bit - Latin and 57 characters of 16-bit - UNICODE). However, most of the phones create a multi-part message automatically and sends the messages as part 1 of x, part 2 of x and so on. the phones actually decreases the payload of each SMS to handle the multi-part information.

Mobile networks have no intervention on the payload of the SMS in most of the countries/operators.

I am not sure what Android does right as I am totally new to this OS/phones.

Cheers
malfunction

 

[mkhopper]

Handcent has an option to split longer messages "on word", rather than exactly 160 characters. Using this method, it automatically sends two (or more) messages rather than convert the full message into mms.

 

[EnthusOcn]

Handcent has an option to split longer messages "on word", rather than exactly 160 characters. Using this method, it automatically sends two (or more) messages rather than convert the full message into mms.

Yes, but on my friends phones they get one text of 150 character, another of 10 characters, and the Part 2 with the rest of the message. I wish handcent would let me specify the character count to make it work with my friends. It fact, it seems that all of them have the same problem. Now I try to keep my messages under 150 characters rather than let the phone cut them all up and have those cut up messages be cut up even more.

Weird.