Messaging
SMS Segment
A single SMS can contain 160 GSM characters or 70 Unicode characters. Longer messages are split into segments, each counting as one SMS for billing.
An SMS segment is a single unit of an SMS message. Due to the SMS protocol's character limits, long messages are split into multiple segments.
Character Limits
| Encoding | Single SMS | Multi-part (per segment) |
|---|---|---|
| GSM-7 (ASCII) | 160 chars | 153 chars |
| UCS-2 (Unicode/emoji) | 70 chars | 67 chars |
Cost Impact
Each segment counts as one SMS for billing. A 200-character English message = 2 segments = 2 × $0.02 = $0.04 on MySMSGate. Using emojis forces UCS-2 encoding, dramatically reducing characters per segment.